Montag, 27. Mai 2013

Banana Walnut Muffin

Hi guys!

Soo, it's Monday and I have a sweet vegan treat for you to help you start your week right. I know, can muffins ever be good for you? Well, these contain healtier flours and nutrious bananas and walnuts so I think they might be better for you than the average chocolate muffin. The recipe comes from Gwyneth Paltrow's "Notes to my kitchen table", one of my go-to books if I want recipes for a healthy treat. 

Here's the recipe:
4 (or 6) tablespoons rapeseed oil
125g (4.4 oz; 3/4 cup) whole spelt flour
100g (3.5 oz; 2/3 cup) white spelt flour
60g (2.1 oz; a good 1/3 cup) barley flour (or buckwheat)
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon fine salt
3 very ripe banana
125ml (4 fl.oz; 1/2 cup) maple syrup
4 tablespoons brown rice syrup (or 3 parts honey + 1 part water; equal parts light agave nectar)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
85g (3 oz) raisins
60g (2.1 oz) toasted walnuts

1) Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases or oil them with the two additional tablespoons of rapeseed oil. Chop the walnuts and toast them in a pan. 

2) Sift the flours, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a bowl. Purée the bananas in a food processor or blender and then add 4 tablespoons of rapeseed oil, syrups and vanilla and pulse to combine. 

3) Make a well in the flour mixture and pour in the liquid mixture. Stir just to combine and fold in the raisins and walnuts (don't overmix or you will have tough muffins!). 

4) Use an ice cream scoop to distribute the batter evenly among the muffin sections.

5) Bake for approx. 25 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool in the pan for a few minutes before removing to a wire rack. 

Yield: 12 muffins
Active preparation time: 15 minutes
Total preparation time: 45 minutes
© Copyright: Gwyneth Paltrow, "Notes from my kitchen table", p. 226

Here's how mine look:


These muffins are not as sweet as a "regular" muffin, but they have lots of flavour anyways. I particularly love the stronger taste of the flours to balance the sweetness of the banana. The raisins turn into soft, moist pieces and the walnuts add crunch as well as deep nutty flavour from toasting them. It really does make a difference, so don't skip the toasting. I have a hard time finding barley flour, so I substituted buckwheat flour and it worked beautifully. Both flours, barley and buckwheat, contain eight essential amino acids and are gluten free. I also can't find brown rice syrup, but I do always have agave nectar in my baking ingredient box, so this is a good substitute. If you can't find any wherever you live, substitute honey (it makes the muffins vegetarian instead of vegan, but works just as well). 

Have fun trying!

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