banana Archives - Page 3 of 3

I think most of us have a favourite banana bread or muffin recipe. At a baker’s home, it’s not too difficult to predict the fate of ripened bananas. In my case, I can’t say that there have been too many instances that I have gone shopping for bananas for a particular recipe. Or maybe this is my first.

I’ve been meaning to make banana muffins with coconut in them for a while now. Actually I was looking for a desperate change from my usual banana plain or chocolate flavoured muffins. And I didn’t want a frosting this time, like the one I had posted earlier with Chocolate Malt Buttercream. So when I came across the recipe I knew I wanted to make it. It was by far the simplest banana muffin recipe that I tried out.

It turned out great. Moist with a bit of crunch from the desiccated coconut and sweet from the bananas. Chocolate chips almost always make their way into my muffins. There’s not much else to say about this recipe other than it is sure worth a try.

Banana Coconut Chocolate Chip Muffins (adapted with variation from Taste.com)
Makes 12 large muffins

125g unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup (165 g) castor sugar
2 large ripe bananas, mashed with a fork
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups self-raising flour, sifted
1 cup desiccated coconut
1/2 cup (100g) dark chocolate chips
Icing sugar, to dust

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Grease or line a 12 hole muffin pan with paper liners.

Place butter, sugar, banana, eggs and vanilla in a bowl and mix till well combined. Place flour, coconut and chocolate in a large bowl, then fold in banana mixture. Working in batches, place spoonfuls of mixture into the prepared pan (up to 2/3rd full). Bake for 25-30 minutes or until risen and golden and a skewer inserted into the centre of the muffin comes out clean.

Cool slightly in pan, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely. Serve dusted with icing sugar.

‘Milo’ is a word Australian homes with kids would be all too familiar with. Malt drinks are a hit with a lot of children. Mine really love it and will eat spoonfuls of it straight from the tin. Sometimes, I mix it with banana and vanilla ice cream to make a milkshake. Yesterday while the blender was doing its work and I was staring into it, the cupcake Gods suddenly smiled at me and I smiled back. Why didn’t I think of this earlier! Banana Malt Cupcakes!

I really like the flavour of these cupcakes. Better than the milkshake! And it is such a great recipe to make for kid’s parties and get-togethers. When I told my boys the cupcakes had Milo in it, their eyes lit up.

The cupcakes are soft and moist and the buttercream has a flavour similar to milk chocolate. So they work well together. A dusting of milo powder gives it an extra malt boost. You can replace the chocolate malt powder with your preferred malt powder.

Please note while making the frosting that most chocolate malt powder are already sweetened so I have reduced the icing sugar than I would normally use to make my buttercream. The resulting buttercream will be fluffier (not very stiff) and not the perfectly pipeable one. It’s actually wonderful spooned or spread over the cupcakes. Though I managed to pipe, I wasn’t too happy with the end result.

Banana Cupcakes with Chocolate Malt Buttercream

Banana Cupcakes
2 cups self-raising flour, sifted (or 2 cups plain flour+2 tsp baking powder)
3/4 cup castor sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup milk
125g butter, melted, cooled
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup mashed banana (about 2 large ripe bananas)

Preheat oven to 200 degree C. Grease a 12 capacity muffin pan or line with paper cases. Combine flour and castor sugar in a bowl. Make a well in the centre. Stir in cinnamon.

Add milk, butter, eggs and vanilla to flour mixture. Using a large metal spoon, stir gently to combine. Add the mashed banana.
Spoon mixture into prepared muffin pan. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Stand in pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

Once cool, spread or pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes. Dust with chocolate malt powder or cocoa powder.

Chocolate Malt Buttercream
1/2 cup unsalted butter (113 g), room temperature
11/4 cup icing sugar, sifted (add another 1/2 cup if you want a stiffer frosting)
2 tbsp milk
1/4 cup chocolate malt powder (I used Milo)
2 tbsp cocoa powder

Add the malt powder to 2 tbsp warm milk and stir to make a smooth paste. Keep aside. In an electric mixer or with a hand mixer, cream the butter till smooth. With the mixer on low-speed, gradually beat in the sugar. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the malt milk paste and cocoa powder. Beat on high-speed until frosting is light and fluffy.