Baking
White muffins … are they really just cake?

White muffins … are they really just cake?

Muffins are great little take-alongs for a packed lunch, an easy breakfast or as a side to a bowl of soup or stew. Rethink the lowly muffin for some quick and easy bakes. Here are two muffin recipes for you to try. Enjoy!

When is a muffin an actual muffin and when is it really cake?

Well, it really depends on what you’re adding to the basic recipe. I’ve been making white muffins for my kids for as long as I can remember. In reality, they’re just individual sized cakes. I try to add things in to make them have a little more of a redeeming quality, but at the end of the day, a muffin is a little serving of cakey goodness.

So what’s wrong with cake anyway

Well, cake is great, but perhaps not the way you want to start the day … okay, some days but not everyday. Let’s enjoy cake for what it is and get some muffins going. Feel good about enjoying a muffin with your morning coffee or giving them to your kids. There’s a lot of flexibility in muffin recipes, they’re generally quite forgiving. Decrease the sugar if you’re adding other sweet ingredients such as fruit or chocolate chips. Leave the sugar out completely for a savoury muffin. Sneak in some veggies, some whole wheat flour and now your little ‘cake’ is better for you.

How to make it a actual muffin with add-ins

One of the favourite add-ins is mashed banana and chocolate chips. The banana helps keep the chips soft which makes for a nice treat. This is also hides the whole wheat flour or wheat germ that I used to sneak in there too. How much banana to add? Well how many bananas do you have? You will generally need more than one, unless it is incredibly huge. I tend to use 2-4 bananas in a muffin recipe, depending their size, their potential ‘lifespan’ (as in, OMG, these bananas are very, very spotty) and also what else is going into the recipe.

For the chocolate chips – add as much or as little as you like – in this recipe I’ve only added about 3/4 of a cup.. you can go up to double that if you really enjoy the chocolate hit. Try to use a scoop to put the batter into the prepared muffin tins/cups.. you’ll get a consistent size rather than just using a spoon. Bake the muffins in a muffin tin lined with paper muffin liners or directly into paper portion cups sitting on a baking sheet.

For a wet batter such as this (lighter) banana-chocolate chip, you want to fill the muffin cup approximately two thirds full. For the spinach and cheese muffins, they don’t rise much so you can fill the cups right to the top.

Adding other dry ingredients

If you want to up the nutrition game in your muffin, think about substituting some of the white All-purpose flour with some whole wheat or some multigrain flour. The banana chocolate chip recipe here, substitutes one third of the white flour with whole wheat. Does not change the appearance of the muffin too much, but gives it a lovely texture and a better-for-you product.

banana chocolate chip muffins

"Lighter" Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Yield: 12 large or 24 regular
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins with a lighter touch...perfect with a cup of tea or coffee at any time of the day.

Ingredients

  • 260g (2 cups) all purpose (plain) flour
  • 135g (1 cup) whole wheat flour
  • 25g (5 teaspoons) baking powder
  • 1.5 teaspoons salt
  • 220g (1 cup) granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs, beaten lightly
  • 60ml (4 tablespoons) canola oil
  • 390ml (1 & 1/2 cups) milk - any type - 1%, 2% etc.
  • 2-4 ripe bananas, mashed (depends on size, your call)
  • 60 - 230g (1/3 - 1 & 1/3 cups) chocolate chips - this is where you make it lighter
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

  1. Turn the oven to 350F and line your muffin tin with paper cups (or spray with cooking oil spray).
  2. Mix the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
  3. Mix the milk, canola oil, vanilla extract and eggs - beat lightly until the eggs are mixed in. Add to the dry ingredients.
  4. Mash the bananas - as much or as little as you like.
  5. Stir with a large fork and add in the mashed bananas and chocolate chips. This will be a rather runny mixture, but that's okay.
  6. Scoop into the prepared muffin tins. These do rise a fair bit, so fill the tins only two thirds full. You can use regular-sized muffins tins or jumbo ones.
  7. Bake for 20-23 minutes. They should be golden all over.
  8. Let sit in the muffin tin for five to ten minutes, then remove to a cooling rack.

Notes

How 'lighter' these muffins are is your call.

The smaller amount of chocolate chips still gives a nice chocolatey hit with less fat and calories.

Easy does it

Like all muffins, this is a one bowl effort – and no need to break out any kind of mixer device – a large fork will do the job. I used to be able to whip up a half recipe of muffins and pop them in my small convection oven before the kids got home from school. Made a nice snack and stopped them from looking for other food before dinner.

Blueberries, with a spot of grated lemon zest, bananas as I’ve already mentioned, and even small diced (tinned) peaches make a great add-in and are often things we all have at home. Add some crunch to the top, either in a streusel-like topping or just a spot of brown sugar and cinnamon.

Kick it up a further notch

Consider taking flavour one step further… a savoury white muffin. Add in cooked spinach, a little swiss cheese, some shallots or garlic. Now you’ve turned this into not-so-much a breakfast muffin, but something to be eaten on its own or with a bowl of soup.

Spinach cheese muffin

Spinach and Cheese Muffins

Yield: 12 large or 24 regular
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes

Tasty and Delicious spinach and cheese muffins. Hearty enough to enjoy with a bowl of soup for lunch.

Ingredients

  • 470g (3 cups) all purpose (plain) flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1.25 teaspoons salt
  • 3 large eggs, beaten lightly
  • 160ml (2/3 cup) olive oil - canola can be substituted
  • 250ml (1 cup) milk - any type
  • 450g (1 pound) fresh baby spinach or 1 box frozen chopped spinach, thawed
  • 2 cups shredded cheese - any variety/combination - best choices are a strong cheddar, Monterey jack (with jalapenos), mozzarella
  • optional - 2 tablespoons pesto - prepared or home made

Instructions

  1. Turn the oven to 375F and line your muffin tin with paper cups (or spray with cooking oil spray).
  2. Prepare the spinach if you are using fresh - heat a frying pan with a little canola oil and add the freshly washed baby spinach leaves. You can leave the stems on, they're tender enough. Once the spinach has wilted and cooled, chop roughly and set aside. If you are using frozen spinach, let it thaw and drain - you don't want the extra moisture in the muffin. Once dried a bit, chop roughly.
  3. Grate the cheese - you can used any combination of cheeses - set aside.
  4. Mix the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
  5. Mix the milk, olive oil and eggs - beat lightly until the eggs are mixed in. Add to the dry ingredients.
  6. Stir with a large fork and add in the chopped spinach and cheese. This will be a rather thick mixture, not liquidy at all.
  7. If you're adding pesto - now's the time. Stir in with a silicone spatula until barely mixed. Try not to over mix this.
  8. Scoop into the prepared muffin tins. You can make these quite large as they do not expand. I generally make these 'double-sized' these days - my eaters are all adults.
  9. Bake for 20-23 minutes. They should be golden with a little brown around the edges.
  10. Let sit in the muffin tin for five to ten minutes, then remove to a cooling rack.
  11. These muffins are exceptionally good served warm.

    This is a similar idea to the corn muffin enjoyed all over North America. Corn muffins are great alongside chili or a chunky soup. Add-ins to corn muffins can include chiles, cheese, roasted red peppers or simply just corn kernels.

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