These muffins are not only delicious, they are far healthier than shop-bought cakes, and very simple to make.
Whilst these muffins are not exactly diet-friendly, they are very good for you - full of fresh and dried fruits, and sweetened only with honey. They are so easy to make that children will be able to help, and because the muffins are not too sweet they can be eaten for breakfast as well as at tea time.
Makes 12 individual muffins.
Ingredients:
- 275g self-raising flour - no need to sift
- 3 large, ripe bananas
- 75g raisins
- 1 large egg
- 3 tablespoons runny honey
- 4 tablespoons milk, any variety
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 75g butter
- small pinch salt
- Smarties to decorate, if liked
You will also need 2 x 6-bun muffin tins, 12 paper muffin cases, and a wire rack for cooling the muffins when they come out of the oven.
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees centrigrade.
- Peel and roughly slice the bananas, and melt the butter (either in a small saucepan, or just by heating for 20-30 seconds in a microwave).
- The easiest way to make the muffins is in a food processor, but if you don't have one of these, just use a large bowl and a wooden spoon for mixing. Add all the ingredients to the mixer or the bowl; it doesn't really matter what order you put them in. Mix everything together to form a rough batter; if you are doing this in a food processor this will literally take only a few seconds. Take care not to over-mix the batter - a few lumps in the batter make for far better muffins!
- Place the paper muffin cases into your tins, and carefully divide the batter mixture between them. Remember not to completely fill the cases, as the muffins will rise during cooking.
- If you like, you can place a decoration on the top of each muffin at this stage - pink Smarties are great. You could also use nuts or dried fruit.
- Put the trays into the oven, and cook for around 25 - 30 minutes. You may need to swap them round during the cooking time so that they brown evenly.
- When the tops are golden brown, and a knife inserted into the centre comes out clean, they are cooked. Do remember though, that the muffins will be naturally quite soft in texture due to the bananas.
- Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool fully.
Variations: instead of raisins, you could substitute the same quantity of chopped nuts, or chocolate chips. You may need to add a little more honey if using the nuts, as they lack the natural sweetness of the raisins.
The copyright of the article Banana, Honey and Raisin Muffins in Breads & Muffins is owned by Elizabeth Gregory. Permission to republish Banana, Honey and Raisin Muffins in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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