When I lived in London, I fell in love with banana bread. I used to treat myself to a slice of it with a coffee in the afternoon and this often was a highlight of my working day. I used to tell myself that the banana content made it “practically a health food”.
When I ditched eggs, I was a tad worried that I may have to say goodbye to my banana bread addiction forever. Little did I know that bananas are in fact an excellent (natural and healthy) egg replacer. Not only do they hold everything together, they also keep the cake moist, add lots of natural sweetness and a lovely, wholesome flavour.
This recipe is for twelve highly portable vegan banana oat muffins. They are just as delicious as regular banana bread, but much more convenient when you are on the go. They are easy to put into your lunchbox, take with you when travelling or to give them away to your neighbours or friends when (in your baking frenzy) you have made way too many.
Although they are sweet and delicious on their own, they can be made even more indulgent with a caramel topping. When Duncan returns from his 2 hour run at the weekend, they are just about his favourite thing to stick into his cakehole.
- makes: 12
Ingredients
MUFFINS
Dry ingredients
- 120 g / 1 cup spelt / wholemeal flour
- 120 g / 1 cup regular flour
- 1 tsp of baking powder
- ½ tsp of baking soda
- pinch of salt
- 110 g / heaped ½ cup brown sugar
- 50 g / ½ cup rolled oats
- 50 g / ½ cup walnuts, chopped
Wet ingredients
- 4 small ripe bananas, mashed up
- 120 ml / ½ cup melted coconut oil
- 120 ml / ½ cup coconut milk
CARAMEL SAUCE
- 100 g / ½ cup brown sugar
- 120 ml / ½ cup coconut milk
- pinch of salt
Method
- Warm up the oven to 180° C / 355° F.
- In one bowl, combine all dry ingredients apart from nuts. In another bowl combine all wet ingredients.
- Pour wet ingredients into the dry ones and stir until just combined – do not overmix. Fold in chopped walnuts.
- Grease standard 12 muffin tin with a bit of oil. Spoon the muffin mixture into the tin.
- Bake for about 25 minutes, exact time depends on an individual oven.
- To make caramel sauce, put sugar into a dry frying pan and let it dissolve gently on very low heat. Refrain from stirring it.
- Warm up coconut milk gently – this is not essential, but it will reduce splattering once you add coconut milk into dissolved sugar.
- Once sugar melts completely and the sugar turns to an amber colour (careful not to overdo it – caramel burns very quickly), whisk 1/4 cup of coconut milk into the sugar until combined.
- Warm it up again slowly until bubbles start to appear on the surface, then add the rest of coconut milk and a pinch of salt. Stir the mixture well, let it bubble for a bit and take off the heat. Let it cool before decorating muffins.