Muffin love

I have never been a good baker. Growing up it was my sister that did all the baking at home, meticulously making pies, banana breads, cookies and chocolate cakes that I was only too happy to eat! I never had the patience to measure, follow the instructions line-by-line, preheat the oven… It was just too much stuff going on. When I got into the kitchen I wanted to get creative, let loose and let go.

When I moved to Paris and all my friends were taking both Basic Cuisine and Pastry, I happily opted out of pastry and even more happily ate their freshly baked croissants and lemon meringue tarts. I didn’t care if I didn’t know how to make it. Leave that up to the experts. One could easily pick up a great dessert anyways!

The few times I attempted to make my own baked goods had always resulted in disaster. I once attempted to make a simple yellow cake, hoping to top it with strawberries and fresh cream. I followed the recipe exactly and realized that it called for two pans but I only had one. I figured I would just cook it longer. I had what was a hybrid of a very hard outer rim of a cake and some kind of soup in the middle. Inedible.

The next time I thought I would make the perfect chocolate cake and when the recipe called for two pans, I bought two pans. I followed all the instructions religiously and when it came out they looked beautiful! I was so excited I removed them immediately from the mold when the evil steam trapped inside burst out from within, turning my cake into a dilapidated pile of brown bits. In a last-ditch effort, I covered the thing in dark chocolate ganache, resulting in what looked like a giant pile of poop. No one ate it.

I had many more mishaps after that, deciding it was just not my thing. I’ve mastered a few non-bake desserts like chocolate mousse and tiramisu and felt, well, that was that. Until I became pregnant. With this bundle of joy in my tummy, I thought to myself, how could I bring a child into this world without the inviting smell of freshly baked cookies and my dream of making him a homemade birthday cake? How could he boast to all his friends that mommy is “the bestest” in the kitchen ever if all the sweet treats I could reasonably produce from the oven were brownies from the box?

It then became one of my New Year’s resolutions to learn 10 new dessert recipes. So far I’ve done all right, perfecting the clafoutis, making peanut butter cookies and now I’m obsessed with making the perfect breakfast muffin.

For my first attempt I took a simple recipe off the Internet and followed it from A-Z. I could hardly sit still. I waited in front of the oven with anticipation and when I pulled them out they were so beautiful. Golden cinnamon brown sugar crumb topping, soft and moist inside with tangy blueberries… Overjoyed and absolutely proud! For breakfast I would split them in two down the middle, place a pat of butter and toast them in the toaster oven. It was absolute heaven. I was aware, however, that they were nowhere near nutritious and most definitely going straight to my hips.

Feeling a little more confident, I remade them with some changes. I swapped out the regular flour for some whole-wheat flour and ground oat flour, used mashed bananas and added some almond slivers. It came out all right. A little dry and crumbly but still not healthy enough. It still had a lot of sugar, not enough fiber and too much oil. After much research and discussions with my dear friend, fabulous baker and queen of pastries Carmela Villegas of Casa San Luis, I finally came up with the absolute perfect breakfast muffin. I took a recipe off the Internet, adapted it to my needs and made it my own.  Swapping out some oil for yogurt and apple sauce, making it two eggs instead of one, swapping out some brown sugar for low-glycemic-index coco sugar, they came out amazing! And I was so proud that it was my very own creation. This Easter brunch try out this recipe. I guarantee that not only do they taste great — chewy, nutty and full of flavor — they are really good for you.

BANANA OATMEAL & FLAXSEED MUFFINS

(Makes 18)

Ingredients:

140 grams whole-wheat flour

225 grams rolled oats

50 grams coco sugar

100 grams brown sugar

40 grams ground flaxseed

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 small eggs or one large egg, lightly beaten

3 overripe Cavendish bananas, mashed (equivalent to 1 cup)

125 grams plain unsweetened yogurt

113 grams applesauce

1/2 cup canola oil

Procedure: 

Heat the oven to 350 F or 175 C. Line your standard muffin tins with paper liners.  In a large bowl mix together the flour, oats, brown and coco sugar, flaxseed, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon. Sift the baking soda and baking powder before mixing it in to avoid clumps. Add the eggs, oil, yogurt and applesauce and incorporate them well together using a stiff wooden spoon or spatula. Add in the mashed banana. Fill your muffin tins right up to the top and bake for about 20 minutes or until you test the center with a toothpick and it comes out clean. Let it cool in the pans for about 5 minutes or so, then remove and allow to cool completely. You can store in the refrigerator for about one week or freeze them, then blast in the microwave for a bit and finish off in the oven toaster before eating.