May 9, 2010: Choc-coconut banana muffins

Something something use up bananas blah blah workday snacks rhubarb rhubarb healthier than cake.  If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you know the drill.  No prizes for surmising that I made banana muffins.  These take inspiration from the Lower-Fat Banana Bread recipe in Veganomicon and the coconut-embellished banana bread I made last spring.  The notable alterations are wholemeal flour for filling fibre, dark chocolate chips for fun, and a grated past-its-best apple in place of applesauce.

These were pretty good!  Make no mistake, they're not the fluffy fist-sized muffins widely sold in cafes.  They're smaller and dense and chewy and not at all cake-like.  They're also sweet and moist and something to get my teeth into when 3:30 rolls around.  Win.

Choc-coconut banana muffins

1 medium apple
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup water
3 small ripe bananas
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup dessicated coconut
1 cup wholemeal flour
1/2 cup plain flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup dark choc chips

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Peel and grate the apple. Place the grated apple in a small saucepan with the vinegar and water. Bring it to the boil, then simmer until the apple is very soft, about 10 minutes. Pour the apples over the bananas and mash them together thoroughly with a fork. I ended up with a little over a cup of puree.

Whisk in the oil, sugar and coconut. Sift over the wholemeal flour, plain flour, baking soda, nutmeg and salt, stirring until just combined. Fold in the choc chips.

Lightly grease a muffin pan and spoon the mixture in. The batter should be stiff but not dry, and make about 10 muffins. Bake until they pass the skewer test, up to 20 minutes.