Banana and Pecan Muffins

A change from the normal incredibly unhealthy recipes I put on this blog, these fibre-full treats taste good, and serve as a fantastic snack. I make them mini-muffin size, and I recommend to as well, as with most bakes, I find the standard muffin size too large. This recipe makes around 8 or 9 normal sized muffins.

Ingredients

250g Plain Flour

25g Natural Wheatgerm

1tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

1tsp Baking Powder

1/2tsp Ground Cinnamon

100g Pecans, Roughly Chopped

3 Small Bananas (350g total weight including skins)

1 Egg, Beaten

85g Butter, Melted

100g Light Muscovado Sugar

175ml Buttermilk 

Icing Sugar for dusting (optional)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas 6/fan 180C. Grease or line your muffin tin. In a large bowl combine the flour, wheatgerm, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, cinnamon and 85g of the pecans. Peel and mash the bananas.

2. In a separate bowl, mix together the egg, butter and sugar, then stir in the mashed banana and buttermilk. Add the egg mixture all at once to the flour mixture, stirring until just combined, but don't overmix it or the cake will turn out heavy.

3. Spoon the mixture into the tin, about 3/4 the way up. Sprinkle with the remaining pecans, and bake for 20-25 minutes until well risen and golden. Cool on a wire rack.

4. Once cooled, dust with icing sugar, or cut a design out of a circle of greaseproof paper to make a template, and dust over that.