Having three hungry teenagers in the house means that I have to make snacks that are not only nutritious but quick and easy to make.
I know some scoff at the thought of cakes being nutritious but they are a better choice than the overly processed packaged cakes, biscuits and muffins you can buy at the supermarket or bakeries.
I say let them eat cake or muffin in this case!
My children have limited processed and packaged snacks for school but I do like to send them off with home baked treats. Each week end we take turns at making a cake, biscuits or slice for school.
In my book this teaches them many things.
- they get to participate in making food for their siblings so they learn the value of sharing.
- they get to learn how to make many different type of cakes, biscuits and slices, a fabulous life skill.
- they get to see that the cakes we make are made from real ingredients that are not overly processed.
- they are not thinking that cakes, biscuits and slices are bad foods and bad for them. They know what goes into them and they can adjust the ingredients depending on what they are cooking. For example sometimes if we have 3 really ripe bananas we reduce the sugar content and use the bananas instead.
- they also learn the value of cleaning up . Unfortunately no clean up fairy at our house!
I generally make this recipe as Banana Bread but today I made into muffins. This is a Thermomix recipe but you can easily convert to a mixer recipe.
Ingredients:
- 100 g butter
- 2 large bananas
- 2 eggs
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla essence
- 1/2 cup rapadura sugar but you can use raw sugar
- 1 1/2 cups plain spelt flour ( I only use plain flour so if you have self raising leave out the baking powder)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder (aluminium free)
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
In the Thermomix bowl, melt the butter – 2 minutes at 100 degrees at speed 2.
Once melted, break the banana into pieces and place banana in bowl. Whizz for 5 seconds at speed 4 until mashed. Add in eggs, vanilla, milk and whizz for 20 seconds on speed 4.
Add the flour and the baking powder and whizz for 15 seconds. Scrape down the sides and whizz again for 10 seconds speed 4. Don’t whizz for too long or it makes the cake tough.
Spoon mix into mini muffin cases or you can pour into a lined loaf tin if you want to make banana bread.
Cook the muffins in a preheated oven for about 12 -15 minutes. If you are making the loaf cook for 35-40 minutes depending on your oven type.
Once cooked leave in the muffin tin for about 5 minutes and then remove and cool on cake cooler for a few minutes before eating. They also freeze brilliantly.
To make in a conventional mixer use soft butter. Cream butter and sugar. Then add bananas, eggs one at a time, milk and vanilla. Mix until combined. Add flour and baking powder until mixed. Again do not over mix. Pour into lined baking tin or lined muffin trays.
Cook for 12-15 minutes for muffins and 35-40 minutes for banana bread.
Pour a cuppa and if you are not gluten free enjoy a muffin or two.