Banana, walnut, raisin and choc chip muffins

Using this fruit and nut loaf recipe, I again upsized it to make muffins.

The one perfect muffin!

Ingredients (makes 12 muffins)

3C flour

1½ tsp baking soda

¾ C packed brown sugar

a pinch of salt

1 tsp lime juice or apple cider vinegar

3 eggs, beaten

2 tsp vanilla extract

160 ml melted butter (approximately 0.7C)

4 mashed bananas

½ C raisins (rehydrated in tea, juice or water, then strained)

½ C choco chips

½ C walnuts, chopped; with whole walnuts for decorating

1 tsp cinnamon powder

Method

1. In a big bowl, mix the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon powder.

2. Add the raisins and toss in the flour to coat so that they don't sink. Add in the choc chips and chopped walnuts. Reserve a few choc chips and whole walnuts for decoration.

3. Add the packed brown sugar and ensure that everything is well incorporated and no big chunks of brown sugar. Set aside.

4. In a smaller bowl, mash the bananas with a fork.

5. Add in the melted butter, beaten egg, lime juice and vanilla extract. 

6. Add the wet to the dry ingredients and gently fold in. Fold until the flour is just mixed in, there might still be some dry bits. Do not over mix. The batter will be quite thick and chunky.

7. With a cookie scoop, fill into lined muffin tin, approximately ¾ to the top.

8. Decorate the with whole walnuts and/or choc chips.

9. Bake at 175 deg C for 31 minutes until cooked through. (Note: the skewer trick doesn't work as the inside batter will be very liquidy from the fruit and choc).

10. Leave in the tin for 5 minutes to cool slightly, then remove muffins and continue cooling on a wire rack. 

Feedback

- Quite dry unlike the original banana loaf, maybe recipe needs more oil. When mixing, it did have lots of dry flour that eventually absorbed the moistness of the banana. However it doesn't fall apart so maybe that's fine. Tender crumb (from not over-mixing and I snuck in ¼ cup of leftover bread flour!)

- I didn't increase the sugar ratio and it was still sweet enough.

- I am not sure if the baking soda really did its job as there was hardly any lift, but at least I didn't taste the baking soda this time. I might try with proper baking powder next time.