Banana, cinnamon and pecan muffins

What kind of baker are you? Are you a follow-the-recipe person or more of an adventurous I'll-do-my-own-thing sort of baker? I'm a follow-the-recipe girl. Sure, I may occasionally substitute an ingredient or two to suit what I have in the cupboard, but I wouldn't describe myself as experimental in the kitchen.

However..... I created these muffins! I had an idea for banana muffins with a streusel type topping but couldn't find anything to suit what I had in mind. After looking at a few recipes I set out into the unknown and created something myself.

This may not be exciting or adventurous to many, but I was super proud of myself (I may have done a small happy dance). The batter tasted good, the muffins rose (always hopeful!) and smelled amazing in the oven, looked pretty and most importantly, tasted good. Hurray!

I could tweak a few things, but overall I was happy with what I made. You can't go too far wrong combining bananas, cinnamon and pecan :)

This is what I did:

250g self-raising flour

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp baking powder (I was too scared to add more in case it destroyed the muffins!)

pinch of salt

175g golden caster sugar

100g unsalted butter, melted

2 large eggs

2 sad, brown bananas (mine were quite small)

100ml plain yoghurt

50g pecans, chopped

streusel topping - 25g each of plain flour, light brown soft sugar and chopped pecans. Mix together and rub in 12g of butter. (I didn't use all of it although in hindsight I probably could have used it all)

Preheat the oven to 220C/Gas 7. In a large bowl mix together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, salt and sugar. Melt the butter in a jug (I did this in the microwave in short bursts) and then once cool add the eggs and yoghurt. Mix together then pour into the flour mixture and combine. Stir in the mashed bananas and chopped pecans. 

Divide the mixture between muffin cases in a muffin tray (my mixture filled 10) and add the streusel topping. Pop the tray into the oven and immediately turn down the heat to 180C/Gas 4 (this ensures they rise really high) and bake for roughly 35-40 minutes until firm and golden. Remove from the oven and leave the muffins to cool in the tin for a few minutes before placing them on a wire rack to cool completely.

The muffins taste best when still warm. If you don't have the stamina to eat all 10 muffins in one sitting (I know, but some people can't manage it!) then just pop one in the microwave for 20 seconds to warm up.

A collection of jugs

Last month I found a new addition to my utility china collection, a Jasmine Woodsware jug.

I paid £8 for it, which is a lot more than I usually care to spend on one item, but it was so pretty and I've had so many bargains on other pieces that I figured it evens out. On a side note, look, I'm wearing nail varnish! Quite possibly the first time I've painted my nails since secondary school. It felt weird but I like the colour, especially against the yellow jug.
 

After taking the first photo, I wondered how many utility china jugs I owned, so I found them all and took a group photo!

 

Then I wondered how many jugs I owned in general, so I took another photo!

 

I love the variety of shapes and styles I've accumulated (so far...!)

 

Pretty details.

 

 

I didn't know I had so many, and there is still a couple in storage with my kitchen stuff from uni days. I wonder what I'll do with them all? Sit and admire them I assume.

Toblerone cupcakes

I have had this recipe from the Caked Crusader bookmarked for ages. After seeing a few toblerone cupcakes popping up recently on other blogs I knew I had to find an excuse to make them. Then my toblerone loving brother came home for a visit a couple of weeks ago so I finally had the perfect opportunity.

You just know that smooshing (yes, technical term) a 100g bar of toblerone into cupcake batter is going to produce something very tasty. By far superior to standard chocolate chips.

 

My brother ended up packing four cupcakes away in his suitcase to take away with him. He definitely approved of this bake.

 

 

I had so much fun photographing these cupcakes. The toblerone triangles made them incredibly photogenic. Usually I don't like cupcake cases which go all see through when baked but I actually thought it looked really pretty on these. It also meant you could strategically pick the cupcake which had the most chocolate chips!

 

 

Once again, apologies to the almond haters. I appear to have been on an almond kick this summer. However I imagine these would still be perfectly tasty without the almond extract in the batter if you still like the flavour of toblerones.

 

The only think I did differently to the Caked Crusader's recipe was the ganache. I followed the ganache Paula from Sweetharts Cakes and Bakes made for her toblerone cupcakes, using plain chocolate instead of dark, but I found it too bitter. Determined to make it work, I added some icing sugar until I was happy with the flavour. I'm not sure if what I produced can still be called a ganache, but it was rich and super chocolatey.

 

Was the recipe worth the wait? Yes. Thanks Caked Crusader!

Blueberry and almond tart

Oops, apologies for my unintentional blogging absence! I'll try to catch up on everyone's blogs soon. In the meantime, here's a blueberry tart which I baked for my parents' (32 year!) wedding anniversary two weeks ago.

I don't bake tarts often, probably because they require a little extra time faffing about with pastry, but when I do I always feel they're worth the effort. There's something a bit fancy about a tart and I thought an anniversary deserved a fancy bake.

I think it's safe to say that the tart went down very well, it barely lasted 24 hours. Those who managed to snaffle the remaining slices said it tasted even better the second day. I'm sad I missed out!

 

Apologies to the almond haters out there as the tart's filling is bursting with ground almonds! The lack of flour means it packs a rich, almond punch. My family loves almond/bakewell flavours, so we were very happy with it.

Such a pretty slice. I love how blueberries burst with flavour and colour.

I think I may have infuriated my family at this point by going "no, no, just one more photo, one more photo please!" But see, isn't it nice seeing all the slices on their plates? The occupational hazard of a food blogger...

The recipe can be found on BBC Good Food, although I made a different shortcrust pastry. I think I used the following measurements for the pastry:

 

200g plain flour

a pinch of salt

1 teaspoon of caster sugar

125g fat (I used half unsalted butter, half lard. Both chilled and diced.)

ice cold water

 

Rub the fat into the dry ingredients with your fingertips in a large bowl until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Using the end of a knife,  stir in enough ice cold water to bring the mixture together into a firm dough (if it goes too sticky just add a bit more flour). Wrap the dough in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.

 

Once chilled, roll out on a lightly floured surface into a large circle big enough to completely cover your tin. Carefully roll half of it up on a rolling pin and slide the removeable base of the tart tin underneath so that it's positioned in the centre. Unroll the pastry, then carefully fold it into the centre, on top of the tin base, then plop the base back into the tart tin and fold back the pastry to cover the sides of the tin. I've found this is the best way to avoid stretching the pastry in the tin. Make sure to press the pastry into all the nooks and crannies, and trim the edges by rolling the rolling pin across the top of the tin. Prick the base of the pastry a few times with a fork then leave to chill again in the fridge for 20 minutes.

 

Once chilled (again!) cover the tart in a layer of greaseproof paper/tin foil weighted with baking beans (to stop the pastry shrinking) and bake in a preheated oven at 190C/Gas 5 for15-20 minutes until lightly golden and just firm. Make your filling while the pastry is baking.