For the past couple of days, my kitchen has been filled with the wonderful aroma of freshly baked muffins at breakfast time. They are among the most satisfying of all breakfast foods I can think of.

Healthy and ready within minutes, muffin batter can be adapted to include anything from chocolate chips, cinnamon, nuts, banana, blueberries, lemon, carrot and pumpkin. Savoury version with cheese, chicken and herbs is just as delish.  You should not try to turn them into cupcakes.

 

I dnt know how popular muffins are on Mauritian breakfast tables. Shoprite is the one of the stores where you can find a decent range of flavours. I used to like their Honey&Bran ones till I learnt how to make them myself 🙂

I’ve got two muffin recipes for you here. If you’re sick of eating soggy Weetabix and bananas for breakfast why not combine both in a muffin? I was inspired to make this high fibre baked goodie from Taste – Kid Friendly Recipes and was glad to find my muffins still soft and fluffy 24 hours after. 

BANANA WEETABIX MUFFINS

 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup self raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

4 Weetabix, crushed

1 tbs almond meal

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sultanas

1 cup mashed bananas

1/2 cup buttermilk

3 tbs butter, melted

1 egg, lightly beaten

 

Method:

  • Preheat oven to 350 oF. Line 12-hole muffin pan with paper cups.
  • Soak sultanas in hot water for about 15 minutes.
  • Sift flour and baking powder in a large bowl.
  • Stir in Weetabix, sugar and almond meal until combined.

 

  • In another bowl, whisk bananas, buttermilk, butter and egg together.
  • Add wet ingredients to flour mixture and fold in until just moistened.
  • Do not overmix. Spoon batter into muffin cups until 2/3 full.
  • Bake for 18-20 minutes until skewer comes out clean from centre.
  • Frost muffins with cream cheese if desired. Makes 10 large muffins.

 

For the first 20 years or so of my life I’ve been a strictly ‘chocolate’ person. I would never hesitate when choosing my ice cream flavour or pancake filling. Then I grew out of it. The warmth of cinnamon, freshness of lemon, coolness of mint, subtleness of coffee, all suddenly turned more attractive. At times I chide myself for missing out on them for so long. And it seems that I’ll never revert back to the chocoholic I was.

Now I mainly use chocolate as a baking ingredient. I bought a box of Oreos in December with the idea of making muffins but kept forgetting about them. Oreos have been my fave sandwich cookie for a long time. Twist – Lick – Dunk 😉 I halved the recipe from Nabsico Recipes since I only had one box of Oreos on hand. With the cookie half on top, it did not take a lot of guesswork to know which muffin was hiding under that cute swirl of cream.

OREO BREAKFAST MUFFINS

 

Ingredients:

3/4 cup + 2tbs all purpose flour

1/8 cup granulated sugar

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbs cold butter

1 small egg, lightly beaten

1/2  cup buttermilk

8 Oreo Cookies, coarsely chopped

 

Method:

  • Preheat oven to 350oF. Line muffin pan with paper cups.
  • Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.
  • Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.

  • Whisk egg and milk together in another bowl until well blended.
  • Add egg mixture to flour. Stir until just moistened.
  • Gently stir in chopped cookies. Spoon batter into prepared pan.
  • Bake for 15-20 minutes until skewer comes out clean from centre.

  • Remove from pan and cool on wire rack. Makes 8 regular muffins.
  • You can top each muffin with a swirl of Oreo cream and half a cookie.
  • For Oreo cream, stir 4tbs Oreo crumbs with 1 cup whipped cream.