Can we get any more words in one title?
I have to say I am not much of a baker, and I really burn half the stuff I make (hence the name of my blog). I am not trying to be funny or over the top, I truly do burn my toast every other day. I probably have scared our dog half a dozen times when the smoke alarm goes off in our small apartment early in the morning.
I think it’s just the patience of baking that drives me crazy. It’s the measuring, the multiple bowls for mixing, the resting, it all takes too long and I think that’s why I end up burning every other recipe I get started with.
However, this take on baking had to end, so yesterday I decided to go to IKEA and get myself a muffin tin, yes, I did not own a muffin tin until today. I am a huge fan of banana bread; I think it’s something you can have for breakfast or even as a snack with your afternoon coffee. The sweetness of the banana with the crunch of any nuts you put in it just all blend so nicely together.
When I stood in my small kitchen, I thought about making a banana bread, but now I had the muffin tins so I couldn’t back out now. Therefore, I decided to use my standard banana bread recipe and pimp it up to make tasty muffins.
I would say that 90% of my kitchen meals are made from improvising, if it purely improvising from start to finish or somewhere in the middle of a recipe I tweak and change some things how I think fits best. If this works with cooking, why not with baking.
So, as I wanted to add the walnuts, I noticed I did not have the classic walnuts, but had a bunch of cashews, so now this recipe was going to become a vegan banana cashew muffin instead. Then halfway through baking I noticed I needed more liquid, why add regular non-dairy milk when I can add vegan chocolate milk? Perfect. (all about improvising with what you have)
The muffins came out pipping out and filled our apartment with a bold whiff of cinnamon sweetness, I could barely wait until they came out. I could have left them as is, but I wanted to spice them up a bit, so I added a peanut butter cream on top.
In conclusion, If I can bake and master these fluffy muffins, anyone can. Oh, and did I mention that I only have a toaster oven? So, let me repeat, if someone who is as inpatient as me, and only bakes in a toaster oven this recipe is bulletproof.
These muffins are 100% vegan, you can always substitute the ingredients I used for non-vegan ingredients.
Vegan Choco Banana Cashew Peanut Butter Muffins
3 ripe bananas, mashed
300g all-purpose flour
3 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp maple syrup
75g vegetable oil (I used sunflower oil)
3 tsp cinnamon
100g brown sugar
1/3 cup non-dairy chocolate milk (you can use any non-dairy milk)
1 handful raw cashews (you can substitute any nuts you like or even dried fruit)
Optional: Additional banana slices for decoration
Peanut Butter Cream
1 cup peanut butter
½ cup non-dairy milk
Preheat your oven to 180C.
In a large bowl mash your bananas. Add sunflower oil and mix. Add the remaining ingredients, except for the cashews and mix until you have a thick and fluffy batter. Slowly fold in the cashews. If your batter is too runny, add a bit more flour.
Line out your muffin tin with cupcake liners.
Add the batter to your cupcake liners and add a banana slice at the top.
Bake for about 10-15 minutes. When sticking a toothpick or fork in your muffin, there should no runny batter stuck to it. If this is the case, then your muffins are ready to get out of the oven and cool.
While your muffins are cooling you can start your peanut butter cream.
In a small pot over high heat add your peanut butter and non-dairy milk and consistently stir until combined. You do not want to overheat your cream as it will become too thick. If this happens, add a bit more non-dairy milk and remove from heat.
Use a spoon and cover the tops of your muffins with the peanut cream.
