Feijoa & Banana Muffins

 

Awww,  this is my last Feijoa recipe…..so sad 🙁 Oh well there’s always next year to look forward to. I have added Feijoa Ice-Cream to my list of ‘To Do’s’ for next year so that’ll be cool. I’m not an ice-cream fan myself but the ‘better half’ loves it and so does my Mum, especially Feijoa. Most people at the moment are making no-churn ice-cream using condensed milk and as I already consume too much sugar I didn’t want to use it. I used to have a recipe using whole eggs and whipped cream but have misplaced it so I attempted to make same using my chocolate mousse recipe minus the chocolate but it was a tad icy on top which made it difficult to roll and then it melted quickly when out of the freezer…..no one wants drippy ice-cream, so a total fail all in all.

But enough about ice-cream and on to these muffins, they are are sooo good! They are a tad tart from the feijoas and a tad sweet from the bananas and with both fruits being on the soft side and mixed with natural yoghurt like all my other muffins, they are really tender….and tasty of course 🙂

I 100% recommend putting streusel on top of these before baking them, I often put it on top of fruity loaves, cakes or muffins and it’s so damn good that you’ll want to sprinkle it all over every muffin and cake you’ll ever bake for the rest of your life! Bahaha! well, probably not EVERYTHING…but it really is that good!

 

INGREDIENTS

115 g / 4 oz butter
½ cup castor sugar
2 large eggs (I use size 7’s)
2 cups standard flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 large or 3 normal sized bananas
1 cup of peeled & chopped up feijoas
1/3 cup plain, unsweetened, natural yoghurt

Optional – 12 muffin cases or 6 large Texas size muffin cases

To Finish – There are a few options…

                – Once baked you can simply dust your baked muffins with icing sugar (confectioners sugar).
                – Once baked you can sprinkle cinnamon sugar over them; In this case, you’ll need: ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon and 2 teaspoons of white sugar.
                – Before they go into the oven you can press slices of banana into the tops and then once baked dust them with icing sugar or sprinkle them with cinnamon sugar
                – My absolute favourite topping for fruity muffins is a pecan or walnut streusel topping which is liberally sprinkled on before baking; If you’d like to do this, go here to make the topping before you start.

 

Makes 12 standard-sized muffins or 6 large Texas-sized muffins

 

Notes

• I don’t usually use muffin cases/papers, I don’t mind them, they do look rather pretty, but personally, I prefer the nice crust the muffins get when you just use the tin.

 

STEP BY STEP

If you wanting to top your muffins with a pecan or walnut streusel topping, go here and whip some up before you even start (it doesn’t take very long).

First, liberally spray either a 12 standard-size muffin tin or a 6 large Texas-size muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray or place muffins cases in (no need to spray those). 

Also, preheat the oven to 170°C fan bake oven or 190°C conventional oven, on bake, with a rack situated in the centre of the oven.

Next, peel the Feijoas (or cut them in half and scoop out the insides with a teaspoon) and then roughly chop them up. If they are small or medium-sized, chop them into around 8 little pieces each.

Also get the bananas ready. If you want to press some slices into the tops for decoration cut some thin ½ cm / ¼” diagonal slices first (12 for normal sized muffins and 6 for large, Texas size), set them aside and then roughly chop up the remaining banana.

If you are not placing a slice of banana on top of each one, just roughly chop up all of the banana!

Next, place the castor sugar in a large bowl and get a large spoon ready.

Then melt the butter in a small saucepan over a low heat or in the microwave for around 1 ½ minutes.

Whilst the butter is still hot, add it to the sugar and mix the two together until just combined.

• I was told that using hot butter gives the muffins a better colour so I use it straight away. I also think it gives the muffins a fudgy, texture as it melts the castor sugar a little.

Now, add both of the eggs and quickly mix them in well.

Next, add the flour to one side and then sit the baking powder on top of that…

• If ‘throwing’ in the flour and baking powder together bothers you, you can sift them together in a separate bowl first.

…and then add the sliced banana, feijoas and the yoghurt to the other side.

Gently fold it all together until it’s all just combined.

• Sometimes I even leave a bit of flour around the edges of the bowl so I know I haven’t over mixed it. Over mixing them will cause them to rise less and also they won’t be as ‘fluffy’ in texture.

Carefully spoon the muffin mixture into the sprayed tin or cases (either the 12 standard or 6 Texas), being careful not to push the mix down as they will rise less and be denser in texture.

Then, if you have cut up banana slices to decorate, gently press them into the top of each muffin or…

…if you’ve made a streusel topping, now’s the time to sprinkle it liberally all over the muffins.

Now, place them in the oven and bake them for 20 minutes (small) or 30 minutes (large). I go for a nice even, golden brown colour all over and a firmness when gently pressed down in the centre and of course a sharp knife inserted into the centres should come out ‘clean’ (no wet batter on it).

Leave them in the tin for 10 minutes before removing them (I like to use a dessertspoon for this) and…

…placing them onto a cooling rack.

To Finish

I always decorate my baking, even the plainest of things. People eat with their eyes and you want your baking to look as good as you know it tastes, right? It doesn’t take much to take something from looking ‘meh’ to ‘AWESOME’ !!

Icing sugar (confectioners sugar) If you have left them plain or have baked them with a slice of banana on top, wait until they have cooled down and then using a shaker or a fine sieve, just before serving liberally dust them with the fine sugar before serving.

Cinnamon Sugar on top – Mix together ½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon and 2 teaspoons of castor sugar and sprinkle over the muffins after they have cooled down. This measure is enough for 12 standard size or 6 Texas size. I’ve sprinkled it over my banana topped ones but you can just sprinkle them over your plain muffins of course.

Serve whilst still warm, with…

…butter! Or…

…a little whipped cream or yoghurt. 🙂

Keepin’ em fresh – These are best eaten on the day, the second day they’re still okay but not quite as awesome…..just like ‘some’ without the ‘awe’. You can keep them in the pantry in an airtight container for 2 days and if a day old, I would warm them for 15 – 20 seconds in the microwave to freshen them up a bit.

 

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