Banana, walnut, raisin, and blueberry loaf

I've had this time and tested recipe for banana bread since the longest time. However, ever since I bought a bigger loaf tin (13x24cm or 5x9.5"), I've been wanting to find a recipe to suit the bigger tin. I found one by Rasa Malaysia but it uses yoghurt, which I don't normally have sitting around in my fridge. So I decided to go back to the old recipe and upsize it.

Ingredients

2C flour

1½ tsp baking soda

¾ C packed brown sugar

pinch salt

2 eggs, beaten

2 tsp vanilla extract

105 ml melted butter (approx 2/5 cup)

3 mashed bananas

¼ C raisins

¼ C frozen blueberries

¼ C walnuts, chopped; with or 5 4 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 frozen blueberries and raisins and toss in the flour to coat so that they don't sink.

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, 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. Butter a loaf tin and line it with an overhanging piece of parchment to facilitate easy removal.

8. Pour in the batter and push it into the corners the the tin. Smooth out the top. Decorate with whole walnuts.

9. Bake at 175 deg C for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. At the 45 minute mark, I had to tent it to prevent the walnuts from burning.

10. Leave in the tin for 5 minutes to cool slightly, then remove and continue cooling on a wire rack. Serve slightly warm with butter or jam.

Recipe feedback: The bread had a nice rise but I could taste the baking soda. I wonder if reducing to ½ tsp baking soda would help. It also wasn't as moist as the original recipe but that could be because I had one less banana. Generally I'm happy with the outcome because and additional banana would have increased the baking time.

Blueberry and chocolate chip muffins

From this recipe

http://littlesweetbaker.com/2014/10/03/bakery-style-chocolate-chip-muffins-2/

Not a bad recipe that I modified by adding blueberries. Can taste the baking soda but otherwise, there wouldn't be quite so much muffin top! I found that the muffin papers were great because there is more muffin top and less 'stump', without having to scrub the muffin pan. I also added the dry to the wet, rather than the other way around as this and many other muffin recipes prescribe.

Ingredients (makes 11)

2.5 cups all purpose flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp soda

½ cup chocolate chips

½ cup blueberries (I used frozen but fresh will do too)

½ tsp salt

½ cup butter, melted (125g)

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

Method

1) Prepare the muffin papers if using. Preheat oven to 220 deg C.

Cube the butter and melt in the microwave in 10 or 15 second bursts. Set aside to cool.

2) In a big bowl, combine the wet ingredients. Beat the eggs and sugar till pale. Add the milk, vanilla and butter.

3) In a smaller bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and soda. Add the salt, chocolate chips and blueberries. Toss the choc chips and blueberries in flour. This prevents the chips and fruit from sinking, and blueberries from bursting and turning everything blue.

4) Using a whisk, add the dry ingredients the wet gradually, and rotate the whisk to fold in eveything. Do not over beat, just combine till everything is mixed with no dry floury spots. The batter will be thick.

5) Spoon into the prepared papers (I find the ½ cup measuring cup useful). Try to push the very thick batter down into the edges of each muffin mould but be gentle. Fill to 3/4 of the muffin mould.

6) Bake at 220 deg C for 5 minutes, then turn down to 190 deg C and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes. I turned the pan in the last 5 minutes to brown the tops evenly.

7) Let it cool in the tin for 5 to 10 minutes, then cool completely on a cooling rack.

Recipe feedback
Notice how muffins lose the 'crunchy' muffin top the next day? Did a little experiment to see what happens to muffins after a night.: muffins in an airtight box in the fridge (A), muffin in airtight box left outside (B), and muffin left outside but with a breathable fly cover (ie not in saran wrap; C).

The next morning, here's the verdict. C was the most moist for some reason and cakey soft. B was drier but still cakey soft. C retained a slight bit of 'crunch' but inside was dry, so maybe the crunch was a byproduct of getting drier. In sum, sadly, none of the muffins maintained the crunchy muffin top but if these muffins weren't so prone to mould after the 3rd day since there are no preservatives within, I would probably leave them outside!

Alternative chocolate chip and almond recipe

Blueberry Muffins

Finally, my first successful muffin, with the right dome! Actually I've done the more English muffin recipe before which is more bread like but it was never as nice as the American cake-like version. I got this recipe trawling through one of my favourite local food blogs, Noob Cook, and she in turn got it from Jordan Marsh.

Just for info, according to my Internet research, there are basically 2 ways of making muffins - the traditional muffin method, or the creaming method. The former is more British and yields a more bread-like texture. The latter is more American and yields a more cake-like texture.

Anyhow here's the Jordan Marsh recipe from Noob Cook, reproduced with my alterations (in red) based on some secret muffin tips I found off the Internet.
Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffins
Credits: Recipe from ‘True Blueberry’ by Linda Dannenberg
This muffin recipe is that of the famous Jordan Marsh’s Framingham Store (which closed down in 1983).
Ingredients
(Makes 12 standard-size muffins) My recipe makes only 10 if you use the tall paper cups I did
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
110g lightly salted butter (or 1 stick), softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
2 1/2 cups fresh (or frozen) blueberries
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 180C (350F). I preheated at 220 C as you;ll later see why 2. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together into a medium bowl & set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine butter and 1 1/4 cups sugar and cream at low speed until the mixture is smoothly blended. At low speed, add the eggs, one at a time, and blend.
4. Add the flour mixture and the milk a little at a time, alternating one with the other, and beat until blended, then remove the bowl from the mixer.
5. Add 1/2 cup of blueberries and gently fold them in with a wooden spoon or spatula. Add the rest of the berries and gently fold them in. I used half a jar or Dalfour blueberry jam as I didn't have any fresh blueberries. I like Dalfour because there is no added sugar and the fruit are almost whole.
6. Place paper muffin cups into the muffin tin, and fill each cup with slightly more than 3/4 of batter. (Note: if not using paper cups, grease the muffin tin).
7. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup sugar over the muffin tops, then bake in the center of the oven for 25-30 minutes, until the muffins are golden brown and puffy. I didn't sprinkle the sugar as I tasted the batter and it was sweet enough, probably because I used jam. If I did use the real fruit however, I probably would need this sugar. In addition, I found to my dismay that omitting the sprinkling of sugar meant no crispy top! I baked at 220 C for 6 minutes, before turning down to 180 C for 19 minutes. This is based on my oven and the number of muffins I had so may vary for a different or different muffin paper cups. I tested with a skewer to be sure.
8. Remove to a wire rack and cool in the tins for 1 hour before serving.