muffins with a little power

I have not been consistent in keeping up with my blog lately. As much as I wanted to put up a blog post at least once a week, somehow life gets in the way. I am more than happy that the one month school holidays is finally over, I am able to do a lot more when the kids are in school :)

I don't want to bore you with yet another post on muffins, but pardon my lack of skills and creativity, I do not have talents to go beyond baking the usual muffins and simple cakes!

These plain jane muffins are neither eye catching or looks mouth watering...but, they certainly are worthy of my calories...

Sometime back, my baking friend has kindly given me a pack of Chia Seeds...something which I have not heard of before I hit the search button. These tiny seeds is packed with a wealth of nutrients and minerals and is also a great source of healthy omega-3 fats and fibre. When combined with water, the fiber in chia seed will cause it to swell up to form a layer of gel around it, which is known as chia gel. So if you eat chia seeds or chia gel (chia seeds soaked in liquid or any beverage), it will keep you full (so that you will eat less) making it very nutritious and healthy for your diet. Because of this gel-like property in chia seeds, it can easily be used in baking to act as a binder or thickener and can be used as a good substitute for eggs. The nutritional value of any meals, beverage or baked goods can be easily enhanced with just a sprinkle of chia seed.

Hope you are convinced by now that these plain-janes are worth a lot more than their appearance. Besides chia seed, I have also packed in banana and walnuts into each of these little cuppies.

These wholesome muffins are soft and tender with just the right sweetness. I really like the interesting combination of texture of the soft, fluffy crumbs with the walnuts and nutty chia seeds. Chia seed is actually tasteless, but I like the crunch it offers when each bite. Besides vanilla extract, I have also added some rum (it was the first time I am using rum in baking), but guess the amount was too little (only half a teaspoon) for me to be able to detect its presence. I was really hesitant as I wasn't sure whether it would be too strong a flavour for my kids, will be more generous the next time.



Banana Walnut Chia Seeds Muffins

Ingredients:
(makes 8 muffins)

150g cake flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
50g caster sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
50g vegetable oil (I used canola oil)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large over ripped bananas, roughly mashed
50g walnuts, coarsely chopped, lightly toasted
1 tablespoon chia seeds


Method:

1. Sieve flour and baking powder, set aside.
2. Roughly mash bananas with a fork.
3. Place sugar, eggs in a mixing bowl. Whisk with a balloon whisk to combine.
4. Add in oil, vanilla extract, whisk to combine.
5. Add in mashed banana, stir with a spatula to combine.
6. Add in chopped walnuts, chia seeds and sieve over the flour mixture, stir with spatula until just incorporated. DO NOT Overmix. The batter should appear lumpy.
7. Spoon batter into paper muffin cups, fill to ¾ full.
8. Bake in preheated oven at180degC for 25mins until golden and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Transfer to wire rack, leave to cool completely.