Archives for April 2012

Weetabix in a muffin!!!!  That’s my secret ingredient for delicious wholewheat banana nut muffins.  A little taste of Ireland and England, crumbled into the baking mix adds extra whole grains and fiber.

Muffins were a new concept for me when I first moved to America over twenty years ago.  Sweet breakfast treats were not on the menu in my Irish childhood years.

In the time I have lived in the United States I have grown to love muffins.  Using wholewheat flour and weetabix makes these special treats just a little less indulgent.

To get started preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  I can’t tell you how many times I have forgotten to turn the oven on before I start baking.  Then I try to put my bread or muffins into a cold oven.

It’s a disaster when using baking soda, since the chemical reaction gets started once the wet ingredients meet the dry.  Everything goes flat waiting for a warm oven.  Glad to get that little confession off my chest.  Luckily my husband eats my cooking disasters and isn’t at all fussy.

Line the muffin tray with paper liners too before you get started.

To make the muffins add the wheat germ to the whole wheat flour in a large mixing bowl.

Sift the all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into the bowl.

You probably don’t need to sift the flour, but I do it all the time.  I can still hear my home economics teacher from Ireland warning:

“Always sieve white flour, girls.”

So sifting white flour is a habit of mine.

Toss the sugar in with the flour.

Next come the weetabix.  Here is a picture of two wholewheat biscuits before crumbling.  I just use my fingers to break them up into little pieces.  If you like you can put them in a plastic bag and use a rolling pin to crush them.  I find my fingers do just fine.

Add the weetabix crumbles to the flour mixture.

Next come the walnuts.

Then the dessicated coconut.  Mix up all the dry ingredients.

In another bowl lightly beat the eggs and add the milk.

Then comes the vanilla extract.

Melted butter is poured in next.  Make sure the butter is not too hot or your eggs will curdle.  Add a little bit first and mix to let the eggs adjust to the slightly increased temperature, before drowning them in butter.

Make a well in the flour mixture and pour the liquids in.  Mix well together.

Mash the bananas.  I make this recipe whenever I have overripe bananas.  My kids love bananas.

Sometimes I have to buy bananas everyday and sometimes they sit for a day or two and go a little brown. My kids won’t touch them if they see any banana freckles.

Banana bread and these muffins help me use up those speckled bananas, without having to turn into a monkey myself and eat all the extra bananas.   I hate waste!!!!

Mix the bananas into the muffin mix.  It should look like this.

Scoop the mixture into the prepared muffin tray.  I love to use my ice cream scoop for this job.  I find I get exactly 24 equal muffins with this nifty little tool.

I like to decorate the top of my muffins with crushed banana chips.

I also like to use some more crushed weetabix as decoration.  Usually I do 12 of each kind.

Bake them in the pre-heated oven for 25 minutes.  When cooked a kinfe inserted into the center of the muffin comes out clean.

Cool a little before serving.  I love to eat my muffins with a lovely big glass of cold milk.

I hope you enjoy my Irish American fusion muffin recipe.

Here’s the printable recipe:

Banana Nut Whole Wheat Muffins

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Serves	24
Prep time	20 minutes
Cook time	25 minutes
Total time	45 minutes
Allergy	Egg, Milk, Tree Nuts, Wheat
Meal type	Bread

Banana nut wholewheat muffins with a secret ingredient, Weetabix, to add extra whole grain goodness and fiber.

Ingredients

• 2 cups wholewheat flour
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup wheat germ
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup crushed weetabix (2 biscuits)
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup melted butter (2 sticks)
• 3 mashed bananas

Optional

• 1/2 cup crushed banana chips (to decorate top of muffins)

Directions

Step 1	Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.
Step 2	Mix the wholewheat flour, all-purpose flour, wheatgerm, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a large bowl.
Step 3	Add the crumbled weetabix, chopped walnuts, and coconut to the flour and mix together.
Step 4	In another bowl lightly beat the eggs. Add the milk, vanilla essence and melted butter. Whisk together.
Step 5	Make a well in the center of the flour mix and add the liquid ingredients. Mix together.
Step 6	Fold in the mashed bananas.
Step 7	Use a large spoon or ice cream scoop to fill the prepared muffin tray. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with crushed banana chips.
Step 8	Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes.

Slán agus beannacht,

(Goodbye and blessings)

Irish American Mom