Banana and White Chocolate Muffins

What an incredible day for a marathon, today thousands took to the streets of London and ran a phenomenal distance for remarkable causes. This morning I found myself pounding the streets of London, however, I opted to stick to the borough of Hammersmith & Fulham, and very briefly Putney. It was such lovely weather I opted for a mini marathon, alright a brief run is probably more of an apt description in comparison - you have to start somewhere! 

I have to say that the one downside to running in the borough of Hammersmith and Fulham is that you have to make running look effortless and chic. Everyone is rather fit and healthy around here and they have the gear to make them look like this, even if they aren't! The roads are laced with the latest sweaty betty gear or male equivalent bopping along so I was quite happy to drop onto the path along the river and find it runner free. It meant I had time to snap this little shot and more importantly give myself a 30 second breather... 

So in light of the marathon I thought I'd share a banana muffin recipe...I'm sure that many bananas were eaten by the runners in training for the marathon ... now its time to use any left over ripe bananas as an energising and rewarding treat! ...with white chocolate!

Makes 16 muffins

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C

Bake to Perfection for 15 minutes

You will need the following:

2 Bananas

120g Butter 

180g Golden Caster Sugar

2 Eggs

240g Flour

¼ Tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

1 Tsp Baking Powder

100g White Chocolate

2 Tbsp Warm Milk

Method:

Line a muffin tray with paper cases 

Sift the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl

Make a well in the middle with the spoon

 Melt the butter in the microwave for 2 minutes and mash the bananas with a fork 

 Pour the bananas and butter into the well you made and gently fold in

In a separate bowl, scramble your eggs and pour into the mixture

Stir well

Heat the milk for 20 seconds in the microwave and carefully fold into the mixture

Finally dice your white chocolate into small pieces and fold in

Fill your cases with roughly 50ml of mixture, which is the same as an ice cream scoop 

(half a case)

Bake to perfection and leave to cool for a few minutes and try to resist eating all in one go, unless you've ran a marathon and then I guess you've earned it

Enjoy ... 

Banana Bread

Life is fairly rosy post essay hand in last week. I am totally ignoring how dauntingly close finals are and throwing myself into a spot of baking this week. What's new?! I have three birthdays coming up and therefore there is much baking to be done. Potassium is needed in my life today after last night...Banana bread is clearly in order. 

Moist and soooooo good! Banana bread is ideal for many occasions; afternoon tea, pudding served with ice cream, essential hangover treat (high levels of potassium) or just pure indulgence. If you have a few old bananas that are beyond consumption as a normal banana, put them to good use! 

You can customise your banana bread with added extras as you wish. You can go for the simple banana bread or you can add in some chocolate chunks, sultanas or walnuts; it's entirely up to you...

Serves 10

Pre-heat oven to 180°C

Bake to perfection for 35minutes

You will need the following:

250g Butter

250g Self Rasining Flour

250g Brown Sugar

4 Bananas

4 Eggs

50g Sultanas/ Chocolate Chunks/ Walnuts (optional)

Method:

Measure out the Butter and Sugar

Mix together

Add in the Eggs, one at a time

Next, add the Self Raising Flour

Mash the bananas in a separate bowl and add to the mixture
Today I also added chocolate chips & sultanas

Pour the mixture into a loaf tin and bake to perfection for 35minutes.
Until it looks like this...

Good old fashioned advice: Use a wooden kebab skewer to poke into your cake. If it comes out with raw cake mixture on it, it needs longer. When it comes out clean you know your cake it cooked to perfection.

Enjoy