Banana Muffins With Rum Raisins

Photo: Bing

Ingredients

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup dark rum

5 ounces butter, melted

1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs

2 large bananas

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups plain flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup walnuts (chopped)

Optional:

1 large banana for extra flavour

Crispy crumb topping:

2 ounces butter, soft

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup plain flour

Preparation

Preheat oven to 170°C (or 160°C if using fan forced oven).

Place 1/2 cup raisins in a small saucepan.

Add 1/2 cup of dark rum.

Stir and ensure raisins are soaking in the rum. Place saucepan over heat and bring to a boil. Once the mixture is boiling, cover and turn off heat. Set aside.

Melt 150g or 4.5oz of butter by placing in a bowl (covered) in a microwave oven for about 30 to 40 seconds.

Lay out 2 large mixing bowls. In one bowl, combine 1.5 cups of plain flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda and 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

Now to the other mixing bowl for the wet ingredients. Peel 2 large bananas and mash them up.

Add 1/2 cup of sugar, the melted butter, 2 large eggs and 1 tablespoon of vanilla essence.

Mix all the wet ingredients together thoroughly. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Just ensure they are well combined. Don’t overmix.

Chop 1 cup of walnuts into rough bits. Add the chopped walnuts to the muffin batter.

Drain the raisins and add them into the batter as well.

Fold the nuts and raisins into the batter carefully.

Optional: I do this occasionally – peel another ripe banana, slice into pieces and fold into the batter. This adds even more banana flavour and bite in each muffin.

Line a large 6 muffin pan with paper muffin cups. And scoop the batter into them, filling all the way to the top. This will give you huge muffin heads.

At this point, you can also make a crispy crumb topping. It adds a nice flavour to the muffin too. Mix 2 oz soft butter, 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup plain flour till they look like breadcrumbs. Sprinkle a tablespoon of this mixture on top of each muffin before baking.

Place the muffins in the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until they are golden brown. Test if they are done with a small knife through the centre of a muffin. If it comes out dry, the muffins are done.

Best eaten warm. So if they are cold, warm them up in the microwave oven for about 20 seconds.