1 ½ cups white self-raising flour (preferable organic or unbleached) ½ cup organic wholemeal self-raising flour (preferable organic) 1 cup Naturally Sweet Xylitol 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 cup raspberries, fresh or frozen and defrosted (I use ‘Creative Gourmet’ frozen raspberries, mixed berries or blueberries from the supermarket) 2 bananas, peeled, chopped and sprinkled with lemon juice 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind ¼ cup olive oil ¾ cup un-homogenised full-cream milk (or low-fat or soy milk. Increase the olive oil a little if you use low-fat milk) 2 eggs or 3 egg-whites, beaten well with a fork
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180C and lightly wipe some olive oil around a non-stick 12-piece muffin tray. Sift the top four dry ingredients into a bowl. Thoroughly mix the bottom four wet ingredients. Toss the bananas and berries on top of the dry ingredients. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients using a hand whisk (not a beater). Fold and lift the whisk through gently only a half dozen times until roughly mixed – it doesn’t matter that there are patches of flour showing. If you mix too thoroughly, the muffins may not be soft and fluffy. Spoon into the muffin tray and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove the muffins immediately from the tray and allow to cool upside down, covered with a tea tray, on a wire rack. They are delicious warm! Why not experiment with different flavoured muffins – the recipe above will work for all your sweet muffins, just swap out the bananas and berries for the following:
Pineapple and Mango Muffins
Use a 440g can crushed unsweetened pineapple in natural juice, ½ large mango peeled and chopped or 2 Creative Gourmet frozen mango cheeks, defrosted and chopped, and one teaspoon of ground ginger. Omit the milk as there is enough liquid in the juice.
Spicy Apple and Walnut Muffins
Use a 425 g can unsweetened apples, ¾ cup chopped walnuts, and ½ teaspoon mixed spice and ¼ teaspoon nutmeg.
Banana and Passionfruit Muffins
Use 2 large bananas and flesh of 3 passionfruit or two packets of Creative Gourmet frozen passionfruit pulp (6 to a pack).
Pineapple and Date Muffins
Use a 440g can of unsweetened pineapple pieces in natural juice, ¾ cup of chopped dates and 2 teaspoons of vanilla essence.
Coconut and Cherry Muffins
Use fresh pitted, chopped cherries or Creative Gourmet’s frozen cherries, defrosted and chopped – add more liquid to compensate for the dry coconut eg lite coconut milk.
Pear and Date Muffins
Add a little more liquid to compensate for the dry dates.
Strawberry and Macadamia Muffins
Why not try pink champagne as the liquid for these? You’re an expert by now so I’ll toast your success! Get the idea? Once you get the feel of the consistency that the mixture needs to be after the wet ingredients are added to the dry ingredients, you can be as creative as you want to be, adjusting the spice mix for subtle flavour, and varying the milk with other liquids eg fruit juices. Add a little more oil too, up to ½ a cup, if you like the resulting softness. Keep the lemon rind – it adds a lovely whimsical flavour.
