Muffins are great to whip up at the weekend - so you can make your way through them in the week.
Elly McCausland says her recipe using banana, tahini, cardamom and white chocolate, results in a “highly addictive sweet-savoury combination” and is also an “excellent way to use up overripe bananas – the blacker the better”.
Banana, tahini and white chocolate muffin recipe
Ingredients
(Makes 12)
For the muffins:
200g plain flour
1tsp baking powder
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
Seeds from 8 cardamom pods, finely ground
1/4tsp sea salt flakes
100g white chocolate chips (or 1cm pieces of white chocolate)
3 large bananas, mashed
70g light brown soft sugar
1 egg
50g butter, melted and cooled
1tsp vanilla extract
60g tahini
For the tahini glaze:
2tbsp tahini
100g icing sugar
1tsp lemon juice
1tbsp sesame seeds (a mixture of black and white looks nice)
Method
1. Pre-heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas mark 6. Line a 12-hole muffin tray with paper cases (or grease thoroughly with some extra butter if you don’t have paper cases).
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda, then stir in the cardamom and salt. Stir in the white chocolate.
3. In a separate bowl, mash together the bananas, sugar, egg, melted butter, vanilla and tahini.
4. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry, being careful not to over-mix – this is the key to a light muffin. Divide between the 12 cases and bake the muffins for 20-25 minutes, until they spring back when pressed lightly with a finger.
5. Transfer the muffins in their cases to a wire rack to cool.
6. Make the glaze. In a small bowl, whisk together the tahini, icing sugar, lemon juice and two tablespoons of water. When the muffins are cool, spoon the glaze over the top. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds and leave for an hour or so for the glaze to set before eating (if you can wait!).
The Botanical Kitchen by Elly McCausland, photography by Polly Webster, is published by Bloomsbury Absolute, priced £26. Available now.
