Saturday, March 8, 2014

[Royal Treats]: Raspberry Banana Muffins!



Who doesn't love a good banana bread/muffin recipe?

Add in some raspberry jam and Oh MY.

Top it all with a bit of white chocolate? *DIES*

I found this wonderful Raspberry Banana Bread recipe from Butter With a Side of Bread; I've tweaked the recipe a bit to my own tastes, but I fully admit that the follow recipe is based on hers!


I apologize for any crappy pictures; I'm definitely not a born photographer, and the lighting in my kitchen is pure crap anyway.


Let's get started -- here's what you will need:






  • Flour [I use part AP, part whole wheat]
  • Brown Sugar
  • Vanilla Sugar [optional, but oh so good!]
  • Salt
  • Baking Powder
  • Cinnamon
  • Vanilla Extract
  • Butter
  • Eggs
  • Bananas
  • Raspberry Jam
  • White Chocolate bar/chips
  • Shredded coconut [optional; could also use your favorite nuts!]


Vanilla Sugar is the best thing ever. And so simple! I always keep a big container of it on hand; it's the only sugar I like in my coffee, and it adds great flavor to any dessert or baked good.

Pour white sugar in an air tight container. Shove a few whole vanilla beans in it. Put it in your cupboard for at least 2 weeks, to allow the flavors to mingle. Enjoy! When your batch starts to get low, pour in some more sugar, perhaps 1 fresh vanilla bean (keep the old ones -- they still give off some flavor to the sugar even when hard).

The shredded coconut, as I said, is optional. I've made these muffins without it, I'm made a batch with it, and next time I'm going to add walnuts instead, like many traditional banana bread recipes.

You could also play with the jam flavor, too. Use what you have on hand and just change the name of the recipe.





Sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon in a bowl. Set aside.


In another bowl, cream together the butter, eggs, sugars, and vanilla extract.



I decided to go the ol' fashion way with a wooden spoon. You could do this part in a stand mixer or using a hand mixer.

My arms told me to do it this way. "You want to eat all these calories?" they screamed, "Then you need the exercise first!"

Your arms don't yell at you?



Once it's all mixed, add in the eggs.




And stir some more.




Now grab your bananas and mush them up. And grab any optional items, too (coconut, nuts, etc).

Stir, baby, stir!

Alright, I'll stop. Sorry.

Remember the dry mix? Pour it into the wet mix. And, this is very important . . .

DO NOT OVER MIX! 



See that? Some flour and dry spots? It's okay. With quick breads, if you over mix, you can create gluten, which leads to tough nasty muffins. You don't want that, do you?


You could always make this into banana bread, in a loaf pan. I've done it, it's great. But I like muffins; instant portion control (and by portion, of course I mean 2 muffins at a time . . . DON'T JUDGE ME!). Either spray your muffin tins or put liners in. Find a small ice cream scoop or dough scoop and get to scooping!




Then, put a dab of jam in the middle of each muffin.

I put too much jam on top; add more or less to taste, of course. I did 1/2 tsp on each, but next time I think I'll do a little less than that. You could get fancy and swirl the jam. I'm rarely that patient. . .


Don't be like me.


Slid them into the oven and take a break while they bake. Enjoy the yummy smell filling the kitchen . . . then remember you have to make the drizzle.

You can't forget the drizzle. That would be terrible. Horrible!

Melt the white chocolate in a microwave safe bowl for 30 seconds. Stir. Repeat until smooth. If too thick, add a bit of milk.



Just don't be like me and add too much milk; then it ends up thin and you have to hurry and throw in some extra chocolate to thicken it up . . .

Again, don't be like me! 




When the muffins are done, pull them out to cool for 5 minutes. Then put them on a rack (or set on a kitchen towel) and prepare to drizzle.

You can drizzle it over with a spoon. You could use a butter knife and "spread" it on. You could dip the muffins in.

I put the melted white chocolate-goodness into a ziploc baggie, cut off the tip, and squeezed it over each muffin.



Who cares about perfection? They're all going into your stomach soon, right?



And now, for the most important, demanding part of the recipe!




Taste test. :)



Recipe:



Raspberry Banana Muffins with White Chocolate Drizzle

Ingredients:


  • 2 cups flour [all AP or a mix of AP and whole wheat]
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar (lightly packed)
  • 1/4 cup vanilla sugar
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups mashed very ripe bananas (anywhere from 3-4 bananas)
  • 1/3 cup raspberry jam (more or less to taste)
  • 1/2 cup shredded coconut OR nuts [optional]
  • 1 package of white chocolate baking squares OR about 1 1/2 cups of white chocolate chips


Directions:


Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Grease muffin tin OR use paper liners.

Sift flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt into a small bowl. Set aside.

In a bigger bowl, cream together butter, both sugars, and vanilla. Once smooth, stir in eggs, one at a time. Add in mashed bananas and any optional ingredents and stir until combined. 

Pour the dry ingredients into the wet. Stir only until everything just comes together -- do not over mix! 

Fill 24 regular muffin tins with the batter. Spoon a small bit of jam on top of each one. 

Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. 

Allow the muffins to cool while making the glaze. 

Put the white chocolate in a microwave safe bowl; melt for 30 seconds, stir, and repeat until smooth. Add a teaspoon or two of milk if it is too thick; add more chocolate if you make it too thin. 

Drizzle the white chocolate over the muffins. Enjoy!








Do you have a favorite banana bread recipe? What yummy add-ins do you use? 



This is only my third Royal Treats post (see "Happy" Potatoes and Tomato Mac Soup). I'm not sure how often I'll post these recipes, but you can always click on the graphic in the left sidebar to see all current Royal Treats posts. 





Enjoy!



Until Next Time,



Photobucket


  *TBQ's Book Palace is a member of both the Amazon and Barnes and Nobles affiliates program. By using the links provided to buy products from either website, I receive a very small percentage of the order. To read my full disclosure on the matter, please see this post!

4 comments :

Anna@herding cats&burning soup said...

Yum! I've never tried doing muffins like that with a spot of jam. Hmm. Might have to try that!

The_Book_Queen said...

It definitely adds something to the usual muffin flavor! I'll be playing around with different flavors in the future, I am sure!


Enjoy,
TBQ

alyn said...

I am not a very big fan of raspberry. I'm more of a strawberry person. I wonder how it would taste with strawberry instead. Guess I'll have to try it and find out. And does it have to be jam? Or can we use jelly too?

The_Book_Queen said...

Strawberry would be great, too! Really, you could use any jam OR jelly in this, depending on what you have on hand and what flavor your like best. Blackberry, strawberry . . . heck, I've seen one recipe online that used orange marmalade! :) Have fun experimenting, and please let us know how it turns out!
Enjoy!
TBQ