Eggless Banana Cinammon Muffins

Muffins - Who doesn't love them?


I tried muffins for the first time today, and was pleasantly surprised with the results!

Easy to make and yum looking super delicious muffins in just about 20 mins baking time! Wonderful, isnt it?

These can be prepared even with the least of preparation or planning, I realised. Easy to make, yum to have.

What goes in:

All purpose flour ( Maida) - 1 cup
Over ripe bananas - 3 ( I used the small Elaichi variety) ( If you are using the normal ones, I'd recommend use one)
Granulated Sugar - 1/4 cup
Curd - 1/4 -1/2 cup
Vegetable oil - 1/4 cup
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
Cinammon powder - 1/2 tsp
Vanilla essence - 3/4 tsp
Salt - just a pinch


How you make it: 

1. Preheat the oven at 170 degrees, and keep your tray lined with the cupcake liners. 
2. In a bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon powder and sift twice.
3. In another big bowl, mash the bananas. To this, add the sugar, curd, oil, vanilla essence and the salt. ( I forgot the essence when I made these muffins today, and realised only when the muffins were in the oven ;) )  
4. Mix all the wet ingredients really well for about 5 minutes. You may want to use your hand blender to beat it smooth, I did not use it. Bananas are soft, and the overripe ones get mashed quickly. If you feel the mixture needs water, add a bit of it.( I added about 2 tbsp of water) 
5. One these are well mixed, add the dry ingredients mix, bit by bit. Use a spatula and a folding motion to mix, ensuring no dry flour is seen. I mixed this quantity in four batches till all the flour was mixed well. Do not overmix. 
6. The baking soda starts working and you will feel the batter becoming light. 
7. The batter would be thick, that is okay. 
8. Use a spoon to fill the cupcake liners to about three fourths of the liner. 
9. Bake for about 15-20 mins, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. 

Enjoy! 

I was focussed more on following the recipe right, hence missd taking pics of the exact procedure I followed...;-) A Sunday Sinner, eh ??;-) 

Recipe source: www.ticklingpalates.com

Some Gyan: 

• Batter should be thick, that would give the muffin a slightly denser texture than cupcakes. 
• Since there was Banana in the recipe, I refrained from adding milk. In my opinion, fruit and milk are not a very good combination. 
• Watch the sugar. Bananas are sweet. You wouldn't want the muffins to be too sweeeet...
• Muffins/Cupcakes take lesser time to bake. Keep looking for the top crust to change colour. Depending on your oven, you may have to change the plate orientation. I had to take out the tray, turn it and place it again, so that the ones on the inner side are on the outer side (when the oven door is opened). 
• I try almost every cake recipe(baking) in fine wheat flour ( for all the obvious health reasons). Sall be trying this one too and will keep you updated. 
• The original recipe was for double the quantity I baked. 
• The original recipe called for apple pieces too, I skipped it. The sole goal this time was to use up the over ripe bananas and to soothe the sweet tooth's at home ;-)

Eggless Chocolate Cupcakes

Eggless Chocolate Cupcakes

It was Sunday afternoon, and I wanted to bake! Just to bask in the joys of baking! As I am no sweet-tooth. 
I also had been looking up YouTube videos for Cake Frosting. So there it was! A perfect reason to sum up the baking itch that didn't let me give in to the ritual Sunday afternoon siesta! But, no regrets, the Cupcakes were yum, and the frosting was just okay. But, I'm learning, and this is just the start! Did you read between the lines... that this means I will bake often, meaning I will sin often, to polish those frosting skills..., which honestly, need improvement! ;-)

Here is the recipe I adapted from a Facebook group friend. 

Ingredients: 
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 cup fine sugar
4 tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup water/1 cup coffee(room temperature)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons white vinegar/malt vinegar (room temperature)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Method

1. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and sieve twice.
2. Combine wet ingredients very well.
3. Gently fold in the flours in three separate batches and mix till all ingredients mix well. You can use a spoon/spatula/hand whisk to mix, a beater is not needed. Do not overmix.
4. Pour mixture into a cupcake tray lined with liners. Bake at 170°C for 12-15 mins.
5. The cupcakes are ready when a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. 
6. Cool the cupcake completely before frosting.

For all the vegans out there, this is a yum chocolate cupcake to soothe the sugary pangs!

Notes

- Overmixing is not good for cake and cupcakes. So, do not overmix.
- After all ingredients are combined, the mixture becomes a bit thin and certainly doesn't look the ribbon-like consistency. Do not worry with this, the end results are a super moist and soft cake.
- The same ingredients, with a little less of the water, might work well for a microwave recipe too. 
- 


For the Frosting

( I needed to frost 6 cupcakes, and this was my first attempt, so I have used a minimal quantity. For larger quantities, just double the ingredients) 

1/4 cup butter (at room temperature) [I used home-made butter]
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
1 tbsp Cocoa for chocolate frosting (you can take more if you want the frosting to be more chocolatey)

Method

1. Beat the butter well until light and creamy. 
2. Add the vanilla essence and the powdered sugar. Beat this well with an electric beater. 
3. Buttercream is ready. 

Notes:
- I found the Buttercream too sweet.(I am not a sweet-tooth) I could have added some salt, which may have given the buttercream a better taste
- I am looking for a less sweet recipe, and instinct tells me that adding cornflour might help, though I do not know the exact proportion and the resultant taste. Will try it out someday. 
- I used home-made butter as it is unsalted and white in colour, ideal for vanilla frosting. Maybe market butter would have worked well too, considering that the amount of sugar needed is double, and would not leave any trace of the yellow tinge. 
- Adding cocoa for chocolate frosting certainly reduces the sweetness quotient. 

If Buttercream isn't for you, Chocolate Ganache Icing with sprinkels would be the best! Well, leaving out Chocolate was never an option, was it? ;)