Sunday, December 27, 2009

Baking Attempt - Banana Macademia Muffins

My 2nd successful attempt at making Banana Macadamia Muffins

I was a little sceptical at the turn out of the muffins as the mixture I had was thick, chunky and little gluey, very different from the chunky yet smooth mixture I had last time round. It was probably due to the fact that I added only 1 big banana this time, relative to 3 the last time. Also, I added more macadamia nuts. I definitely was more focused and followed the recipe more closely. For those keen to try, the recipe is as follows:

Ingredients (Half of everything here):

Recipe taken from http://www.joyofbaking.com/breakfast/BananaMuffins.html

1 3/4 cups (245 grams) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated white sugar
1/4 cup (50 grams) light brown sugar ( I used orange sugar cos that was what was available)
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 ounces (65 grams) white chocolate, cut into small pieces ( I replaced this with macademia nuts)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
8 tablespoons (113 grams) (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 very ripe large bananas (approximately 1 pound or 454 grams), mashed well (about 1-1/2 cups)
(I used only 1 big banana)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

My 6 muffins look nicely crispy on the outside and smells Oh so good.lol... Not too sure about the taste though. I am still resisting the urge to eat one as I write..


Oh well, I caved in. The muffin is nice and fluffy, has a crunchy bite to it and is not too sweet. :D However, i find it a little dry. I think it may be due to the additional 1 min of baking time and also, the reduction of the bananas used.

After finishing one, I feel like making a nice cup of tea and enjoy the second one.. :P

Monday, December 7, 2009

Banana Macademia Muffin


Totally bored that life is nothing but work and more work, I decided to do something. Since my house always has bananas (my dad is a big fan and we always have to help finish it in order to prevent him from potassium overload), I decided to make try my hand at making Bananas Muffins.

Have not tried making non-chocolate related muffins as I do not know how they will turn out, both in terms of taste and looks. Anything with chocolate is safe but for today, am venturing out of the comfort zone. Found 2 Banana Muffins recipes online (http://www.joyofbaking.com/breakfast/BananaMuffins.html  & http://thegoddesskitchen.blogspot.com/2009/03/banana-and-peanut-butter-muffins.html) and out of laziness, combined a little from both based on the availability of ingredients and hassle free factor. :P

As I am not too sure how it will turn out, I halved all the ingredients required to minimise wastage should they turn out horribly wrong and ended up with about 7 muffins. The macademia nuts was added on a last minute decision.

In all, it took me about half an hour to gather all the ingredients, weigh, mashed and mix them together and pop them into the oven. I had my fingers crossed the whole time the muffins were baking and I did not even take a peep to see how they will turn out. I did get "warnings" from my Dad that they are nicely brown and should be taken out of the oven. Lol...

And so I waited till my 22 mins was up... :D

This is my tray of 7 nicely fluff up Banana Macademia Muffin.

Close up of the muffins I made with a little of the macademia nuts peeking out. :P

Am trying very hard to resist the temptation to pick one up and eat it. Will wait patiently for the taste test when I have it for breakfast tomorrow morning. ;)