Banana Chocolate & Macadamia Muffins & Cookbook Sundays # 16

I've got to begin by saying that a pet peeve of mine is blog posts which begin with an apology for not having posted for a while, and yet here I find myself with the need to do just that!!  Life seems to be totally getting in the way of blogging at the moment - actually going out and working, whilst absolutely necessary right now, definitely cuts into what used to be my blogging time.

Now admittedly, I'm not exactly working 60 hours a week, but when you suddenly go from about 7 hours work a week to 30+, then all of a sudden all your usual routines go right out the window.  And, whilst I've always liked to think of myself as a free-spirited kind of girl, capable of acting on impulse, the reality is that like most people the certainty of a regular routine is what helps to keep me grounded.  Like a tree that needs a good, healthy root system in order to flourish and move with the winds that blow, I need that "groundedness" (quite possibly not a real word) in order to think and act with both creativity and wisdom.  When I'm out of routine I feel more like a ship at sea without a reliable navigation system - nothing seems to get done as it should or on time, and my mind feels too scrambled to come up with a clear, creative thought.

So, such is my life at the moment - busy (no excuse, I know, after all - who isn't?), and just a bit out of whack!  So if you've noticed that I haven't posted a recipe in the last two weeks, or you've taken the time lately to come visit and left me a lovely comment, you're quite possibly feeling a little miffed that I haven't yet returned the visit - please bear with me - I'm in catch up mode and I will get to you.

In the meantime, I hope I can earn your forgiveness with these Banana, Chocolate & Macadmia Muffins.  I adapted these from a recipe for Banana Espresso Muffins in Super Natural Cooking: Five Delicious Ways to Incorporate Whole and Natural Ingredients - one of my favourite books from the fabulous Heidi Swanson.

I'm sharing this post this week with Cookbook Sundays (see below for more details), and also at Sweet New Zealand (see more details here) which is hosted this month by the lovely Emma at my darling lemon thyme.  I only wish that you were here to share a coffee and one of these muffins with me - the banana makes these deliciously flavourful and incredibly moist, while the chunks of macadamia nut chocolate brings plenty of texture.  I've never been much of a muffin-baker, but these were a definite hit, and will be on my regular repeat list.

           

Banana, Chocolate & Macadamia Muffins Recipe

Adapted from recipe by Heidi Swanson from

Super Natural Cooking: Five Delicious Ways to Incorporate Whole and Natural Ingredients

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

Note:  I made a couple of small adaptations to this recipe - I omitted espresso powder (which I didn't have), but subbed in dark muscovado sugar for natural cane sugar to get that deeper, richer "caramel" flavour to make up for it.  I also subbed in macadamia nut chocolate instead of walnuts.

2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

125g macadamia nut chocolate, roughly chopped

6 tablespoons butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup dark muscovado sugar

2x large free-range eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup natural yoghurt

3 large overripe bananas, mashed

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C (375 degrees F).

Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners and set aside.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl.

In a separate, large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Add the vanilla, yoghurt and mashed bananas and stir to combine.

Add the dry ingredients and chocolate, and stir briefly and gently, until just barely combined.  Take care not to over mix.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin tin, and bake in the preheated oven for approximately 25 minutes - until golden on top and cooked through.

Remove from the oven, and cool the muffins in the tin for about 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

 

If you're anything like me you have dozens of cookbooks gathering dust on your bookshelves, some of which have never even been cooked from.  Sure I spent hours browsing through them when I first bought them, marking all the recipes I was going to make with little post-it notes, and yet still those books languish in the bookcase and never make it to the kitchen.  There are others from which I have made but one recipe which was such a resounding success that I've made it over and over again, and yet somehow I've never made anything else from that book.  Sound a bit familiar?!

Take comfort - you are not alone, and now Cookbook Sundays is your opportunity to change that.  Every Sunday I'm going to share with you a recipe that I haven't made before from one of my ever expanding collection of cookbooks.  And, because I know that if you have read this far then you are guilty of this too, I'm inviting you to join in with me.  Each week my Cookbook Sundays post will have a linky for you to share something you've cooked from one of your cookbooks.

The rules for joining in are simple:

1. Your post must state the author and the title of the book your recipe has come from.
2. Your post must mention Cookbook Sundays and link back to this post.  Including the Cookbook Sundays badge is optional, but always appreciated.
3. You may submit as many entries as you like, and you may use the same cookbook as many times as you like.  Old posts are also welcome.
4. Lastly,  remember that what goes around, comes around - one of the reasons you are participating in this is because you want people to read your posts, so do the right thing and go and visit a few of the other participants - you can even "Like" your favourites. 

Now, go and dust off those cookbooks and get cooking!  Use the linky tool at the end of this post to submit your entry/entries - simply scroll down to where it says "You are next ... Click here to enter", and then follow the instructions.  The linky will be open for one week.

Lastly, if you would like to use the Cookbook Sundays badge in your post, simply copy the code in the box beside the badge below and paste it into your post.  Feel free to also use it in your sidebar if you wish.

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