Apple and banana muffins
Baking is often associated with lots of sugar and a lower nutritional value. By preparing an apple purée and using a ripe banana, no sugar is needed. Grated apple adds flavour and texture to these delicious muffins.
Ready in
1 hour 30 minsServing size
Makes 10 – 12Ingredients
- Apple purée (makes 250 ml)
- 4 apples, peeled and cubed
- ¼ cup (60 ml) water
- 2 tsp (10 ml) lemon juice
- Muffins
- ½ cup (125 ml) wholewheat flour
- ½ cup (125 ml) cake flour
- ½ tbsp (7,5 ml) baking powder
- 1 tsp (5 ml) ground cinnamon
- 1 cup (250 ml) coarsely grated apple
- ½ cup (125 ml) prepared apple purée
- 1 large ripe banana, mashed with a fork
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 6 tbsp (90 ml) sunflower or canola oil
- 1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla essence
Method
- Apple purée: Place apples, water and lemon juice in a small pot. Cover and bring to the boil over a medium heat. Simmer until soft. Drain liquid, but keep it. Purée with a stick blender until smooth or rub through a sieve and add some of the cooking liquid, if necessary.
- Muffins: Preheat oven to 180 °C. Place muffin cups into a muffin pan or lightly grease the pan.
- Mix all the dry ingredients together and stir in the grated apple. Mix the remaining ingredients together.
- Stir the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients to form a smooth batter. Take care not to over-mix it. Spoon into muffin cups and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
- Cool on a cooling rack. Serve 1 muffin per person as a snack or in a lunch box.
Tips
- Any leftover apple purée can be frozen and used for other baking, or used to sweeten savoury dishes. If preferred, the apple cubes can be simmered with a cinnamon stick – just remove it before puréeing the apples.
- Add ⅓ cup (80 ml) dried cranberries or raisins to the muffins, if preferred.
Apple purée
Use this purée in baking to add a sweet flavour and soft texture, like in these muffins. You can also freeze any leftover fruit purée in ice cube trays, until needed. It also makes a delicious, healthy homemade baby food too.
This recipe is from Cooking from the heart, 2nd edition: Breakfast, Lunch and snacks
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