Banana Muffins

We had another baking session with the kids during the holidays. This time with three 3 year olds and one six year old. Decided to bake muffins this time, these individual cakes always manage to thrill the little ones! I had a couple of ripe bananas lying around so I decided to make Banana Muffins and also throw in some walnuts.

The bananas, milk, honey, eggs and walnuts make for a power packed treat for the little ones - rich in calcium, iron, Vitamin A, protein, essential fatty acids and potassium. It takes hardly anytime to prepare and my little helpers gave me a hand with mixing the ingredients and pouring out the batter.

The muffins when they were baked were really moist and soft, though they turned out a tad salty....not sure whether it was more salt or the combination of cinnamon and salt. Will cut down on both the next time.

The banana muffins are on their way to the Think Spice...Think Nutmeg event being hosted this month by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen. Think Spice was originally hosted by Sunita's World.

Banana Muffins

1/2 tsp cinnamon (can be replaced with vanilla essence)

1/2 tsp nutmeg (grated)

1 cup whole wheat flour (atta)

1½ cups refined flour (maida)

2 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp baking soda

½ cup honey

1 egg

½ tsp salt (would change it to 1/4 tsp next time)

1 cup milk

3 tbsp oil

3 ripe bananas, mashed

Half a cup of chopped walnuts (lightly toasted)

1. Preheat oven to 180C.

2. Mix the wheat flour, refined flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon together in a bowl.

3. In another bowl, mix the honey, egg, milk, oil and add the dry ingredients until just combined. At the end mix in the chopped walnuts.

4. Grease a muffin pan or line cupcake moulds with cupcake papers.

5. Fill the muffin moulds or cupcake liners till the top and bake for 35-45 minutes till they are golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

6. Remove to a rack and cool completely before unmoulding.

For a superb eggless version, take a look at Vaishali's recipe.