Banana Chocolate Muffins

With some very ripe bananas in the fruit bowl, it was about time to bake again...This time a recipe from Nigella Lawson's Kitchen that fellow food blogger from Avonturen in de keuken (Adventures in the kitchen) tested out before me and inspired me to bake...a recipe for Banana Chocolate Muffins! They are really easy to make, and taste really great!

Banana Chocolate Muffins
(makes 12)

Ingredients:
3 ripe bananas
1,25 dl vegetable oil
2 eggs
100 gr sugar
225 gr all-purpose flour
3 tbsp dark cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda

Preparation:
1.) Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius and line a muffin tin with paper cups.
2.) Peel the bananas, and mash them in a medium sized bowl.
3.) Add vegetable oil and the eggs, and mix well.
4.) Add sugar and stir.
5.) Mix the flour, cocoa powder and soda in a separate bowl, and sift it into the banana mixture. Stir well.
6.) Fill the cups twothirds up, and bake for 20 minutes on the middle rack of the oven.
7.) Let the muffins cool down for 5 minutes in the muffin tin, before transferring them onto a rack to cool down more.

Hubby rating: 4 (out of 6; would have been 5, with chocolate chips added to the dough)

Enjoy!

Apple Chocolate Muffins

Today is the Day of the Apple in Norway.... No, it's got nothing to do with Steve Jobs' passing away or any of those beloved iProducts... Just those ordinary old fashioned apples... To celebrate this "huge" event, I made some Apple Chocolate Muffins.

As October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I bought some pink muffin forms to support the Pink Ribbon Campaign. Would you like to support this great cause, you can buy these muffin forms online at Cacas - a Norwegian supplier of baking and cake decorating equipment.

Apple Chocolate Muffins
(makes about 18)

Ingredients:
125 gr butter, melted
4,5 dl all-purpose flour
1 dl sugar
2 tsp baking powder
300 gr vanilla quark
2 eggs
75 gr dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
2-3 apples, skinned, deseeded and chopped finely
1 dl dessicated coconut

Preparation:
1.) Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
2.) Melt the butter and set aside.
3.) Mix the flour, sugar and baking powder into a medium sized bowl.
4.) Add the eggs, vanilla quark and melted butter and stir, turning the mixture into a dough.
5.) Add the dark chocolate and the pieces of apple and stir.
5.) Line a muffin tin with paper cups and fill each cup two thirds up.
6.) Sprinkle a little dessicated coconut on each muffin. (I made some without the coconut sprinkled on top, and I definitely prefered those with coconut...it made all the different tastes of vanilla, chocolate and apple come together!)
7.) Bake the muffins for 25 minutes on the middle rack of the oven.
8.) Let the muffins cool down for five minutes in the muffin tin, before removing them to a rack to cool down more.

Hubby rating: 3

Enjoy!

Walnut Chocolate Muffins with Mocha Frosting

After coming home from our hike up Skoften on Sunday, I felt like baking....The result: these delicious muffins!

Walnut Chocolate Muffins with Mocha Frosting
(makes about 18)

Ingredients:
- for the muffins:
230 gr butter, room temperature
230 gr sugar
230 gr selfraising flour
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
100 gr dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
80 gr walnuts, coarsely chopped

- for the frosting:
230 gr butter, room temperature
600 gr confectioner's sugar
1 tsp instant coffee
1 tsp warm coffee
1 tsp Kahlua
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preparation - muffins:
1.) Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius, and line a muffin tin with muffin cases.
2.) Put the butter and sugar into a medium sized bowl, and mix until white and creamy.
3.) Add the eggs, one at a time, and then mix in the vanilla extract.
4.) Add the selfraising flour and fold into into the mixture until the batter is smooth.
5.) Add the walnuts and chocolate, and stir until evenly mixed.
6.) Divide the batter between the paper muffin cases, filling them up to two-thirds. Any remaining batter can be used to fill up to four more cases in a second muffin tin.
7.) Place in the oven on the middle rack and bak for 20 to 25 minutes.
8.) Leave to cool slightly (about 5 minutes) before removing them from the tin, then place on a wire rack to cool down fully before adding the frosting.

Preparation - frosting:
1.) To make the frosting, use a electric whisk to slowly whisk the confectioner's sugar with the butter until smooth in texture and no lumps of butter remain.
2.) Add the rest of the ingredients and whisk until evenly mixed.
3.) Fill a piping bag with the frosting, and make a swirl on top of each muffin.
4.) Decorate with chocolate morsels and/or walnuts.

Hubby rating: 5+

Enjoy!

Blueberry Apricot Muffins

It's raining cats and dogs outside, there's nothing on TV...so what do you do? Well, that's when I start to bake. Mainly because afterwards I will be able to crawl up on the couch underneath my duvet with a cup of hot cocao, a newly baked muffin and continue to read the book I started yesterday. Then the rain outside seems a whole lot more cosy than half an hour ago...especially when I remember the lovely summer's day that I picked the blueberries I used in these muffins!

Today I tried to bake muffins with the wholegrain spelt flour I found this weekend at one of the larger supermarkets down in the village....and the result: DE-LI-CIOUS!!!

Blueberry Apricot Muffins
(makes about 18 muffins)

Ingredients:
125 gr butter
1 dl sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla sugar
1 dl dried apricots, finely chopped
2 tsp baking powder
1,5 dl wholegrain spelt flour
3 dl all-purpose flour
1,5 dl milk
2 dl blueberries (preferably frozen)

1.) Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
2.) Mix the butter with the sugar in a medium sized bowl with a handmixer, until light and airy.
3.) Add the eggs one at a time.
4.) Add the vanilla sugar, the apricots, the baking powder and the two types of flour, and stir well.
5.) Add the milk and the blueberries, and stir until it becomes a smooth batter.
6.) Line a muffin pan with paper muffin forms, or put double paper muffins forms unto a baking tray.
7.) Use two spoons to divide the batter over the muffin forms, approximately 1 tbsp of batter per form.
8.) Bake the muffins for 15 to 20 minutes on the middle rack of the oven, until golden brown. Check with a cake needle that the muffins are baked completely.
9.) Transfer the muffins to a rack to cool, after they have cooled down in the muffin pan for 5 minutes first.

Enjoy!