Banana Cream Cheese Muffins - #MuffinMonday

These muffins are accidentally eggless. I fully planned on using one of the banana muffin bases I typically use and then topping it with a cream cheese mixture which also needed an egg yolk. As I fell asleep the night before I planned to bake, I remembered that I had forgotten to buy eggs. I could have quickly run to the supermarket that's half a mile away, but I hate few things more than leaving my house. Eggless banana muffins would have to suffice. And suffice, they did. These muffins are soft, moist, and absolutely delicious!! It's hard to eat just one, so I stopped counting after I ate two. I don't need that negativity in my life. 

Be sure to scroll down to see what other muffins the #MuffinMonday bakers have for you today!

Banana Cream Cheese Muffins

Yield: ~ 10 muffins

Ingredients 

Muffin

1 1/2 cups flour 

2 teapoons baking powder 

2 teaspoons mixed spice  (see notes)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt 

1 1/2 cups mashed bananas

1/2 cup brown sugar 

1/3 cup oil 

1 teaspoon vanilla 

Topping 

3 oz cream cheese 

2 tablespoons sugar 

splash of vanilla 

enough milk to make it "swirlable"

Directions 

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease or line a muffin pan. 

Whisk the flour, baking powder, mixed spice, baking soda, and salt. 

Mash the banana with sugar until there are few lumps. Stir in oil and vanilla. 

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Gently fold until just combined. 

Mix together the topping ingredients. 

Portion the muffin mixture into the prepared muffin wells. Then add a scant tablespoon of cream cheese to each muffin. Gently swirl the cream cheese in. 

Bake for 15 - 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean. 

Clean. Hide from your family. Enjoy

Notes

• Eggless Banana Muffin adapted from The Conscious Plant Kitchen.
• Mixed spice is similar to pumpkin pie spice. In Jamaica, our most popular brand has pimento, cinnamon, nutmeg, anise, and orange peel. It's especially popular around Christimas time when it's heartily used in our fruit cakes. Here's a homemade mix from Ackee Adventures.

   

• ABC Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Banana Cream Cheese Muffins from Passion Kneaded
• Panettone Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Raspberry Muffins from A Messy Kitchen
• Roasted Strawberry Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Strawberry Ricotta Muffins from Jolene's Recipe Journal

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all our of lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday, can be found on our home page.

Butter Naan - #BreadBakers

Indian breads. My kitchen nemeses. I don't know what it is about them that I just can't seem to master. My favourite, paratha, is always a hit or miss, with more misses than hits. It could be the rolling. I'm still not very good at rolling out dough, especially when the dough needs to be on the thinner side. I can never get it even, which risks some areas being overcooked and others being undercooked. It could also be the heat of my tawa. Too high or too low - hardly just right. 

It took me a while to one to work on for this month's Bread Bakers. Naan won, because naan didn't look "perfect". I could focus on making it even without worrying if it were a circle. In fact, the blog that I was reading highly recommended hand-stretching over rolling. I could aim for an oval-ish and stress a tad less. A tad. 

It worked. My naan worked. Did I struggle a bit with the best cooking times? Yes. But did I have very delicious, fluffy naan at the end? Yes, yes, yes. I might even try this again.

Thanks for pushing me out of comfort zone, Renu! Scroll down to see how others mastered Indian breads this month!

Butter Naan

Yield:  8 naans

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons sugar 

3/4 teaspoon active yeast

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup ml yogurt

6 tablespoons milk 

2 tablespoons melted butter

Melted butter for brushing

Directions

Whisk flour, sugar, yeast, and salt together. Add yogurt, milk, and melted butter. Knead until you have a soft, smooth dough. Add more milk if needed. Dough should be tacky.

Cover and rest until the dough doubles in size. You can also refrigerate overnight. 

Divide the dough into 8 pieces and roll each piece into a ball. 

On a floured surface, roll (hand-stretch) each ball into an oval that's about 8 inches by 5 inches. Don't stress too much about getting the perfect size. 

Heat a tawa (or griddle) over medium heat. Place the naan on the heated tawa. After about a minute, it should start bubbling. Flip the naan, and cook for another minute to minute and a half.  Remove from the tawa, brush with butter, and repeat.

Serve immediately. 

• Butter Naan from Passion Kneaded
• Cheese and Garlic Naan from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Gujarati-style Savory Pancakes from Food Lust People Love
• Gulachi Sanjyachya Polya with Whole Wheat Flour from Sneha's Recipe
• "Instant" Appam from A Messy Kitchen
• Khamiri Roti from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Litti Chokha from Cook with Renu
• Magical Avocado Paratha from A Day in the Life on the Farm

• Butter Naan from Passion Kneaded
• Cheese and Garlic Naan from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Gujarati-style Savory Pancakes from Food Lust People Love
• Gulachi Sanjyachya Polya with Whole Wheat Flour from Sneha's Recipe
• "Instant" Appam from A Messy Kitchen
• Khamiri Roti from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Litti Chokha from Cook with Renu
• Magical Avocado Paratha from A Day in the Life on the Farm

Banana Crunch Muffins - #MuffinMonday

It's mango season in the tropics, but only one of my mango trees got the memo. And sadly, it's the one that we call "common mango." It's a relatively ubiquitous variety and so, at the bottom of most people's favourite mango list. I was looking at my neighbour's yard and wondering if she was having better mango luck. 

Only one way to find out for sure: bake up some muffins, pay a visit, and casually ask about her mangoes. Unfortunately, her trees are struggling, too, but I managed to get a Julie mango. Love that variety. She did say that one tree had some small mangoes on it, so I may need to time my next batch of muffins accordingly. 

These Banana Crunch Muffins are the ones that I took over to my neighbour. They're filled with granola, and since granolas are not created equally, I could repeat this recipe with different varieties of granola and get different experiences. I used a local brand (National) that has sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, dried cranberry, and coconut among other things.

Banana Crunch Muffins 

Yield: 12 to 15 muffins

Ingredients

340 grams bananas (approximately 3-4 large bananas)

200 grams brown sugar (you can get away with a little less)

2 eggs 

120 millimeters oil 

250 grams flour 

2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup granola + extra for topping

Method

Preheat oven to 350 F and thoroughly grease the wells of a muffin pan.

Mash the banana with the sugar. Whisk together the egg and the oil, then add to the banana mixture.

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt.

Slowly combine the wet and dry mixtures, mixing until just combined. Don't overmix!

Gently fold the one cup of granola. 

Fill each muffin well about 2/3rds, sprinkle with about two teaspoons each of granola, then bake approximately 18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool and devour.

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all our of lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday, can be found on our home page.

• Banana Crunch Muffins from Passion Kneaded
• Chocolate Espresso Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Rhubarb-Ginger Muffins with Vanilla Bean Streusel from Jolene’s Recipe Journal
• Sour Cream Banana Rhubarb Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Teff Brownie Muffins from A Messy Kitchen
• Western Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories