Banana Walnut Muffins #MuffinMonday

With apologies to David Attenborough and the BBC Natural History Unit. 

(Cue hushed voice)  If we observe closely, we can witness a natural phenomenon of the expat life.  Preparations for the Great Expat Migration, likened only to the circular migration of the wildebeests through the Serengeti for sheer volume of participants, begin in March or April with bookings on public conveyances.   Historically, this meant ships, but now, more likely, airplanes.  In the Northern Hemisphere the actual migration begins in early June, as formal institutes of learning close for an extended period through the heat of the summer months. 

We can observe the migrants in various states of readiness.  The elder females clear out stockpiles of clothing that no longer fit their young and make donations to the local community.  Farewell rituals are observed with parting gifts and potlucks.  Graduates are feted.  Tears are shed and bags, one inside another, are packed with skeleton wardrobes:  a few pairs of shorts, shirts and underwear, plus a possible indigenous hostess gift or two, because supplies can and will be purchased along the circular migratory path.  

Migrants en route are readily apparent by the almost complete lack of male adults on the initial leg of the journey, as mothers and their young board airplanes to reconnect with their original countrymen and home cultures for the duration of the summer season.  We follow the migratory path for the next two months as these wanderers traverse borders, staying a few days or a few weeks at a time with obliging relations and friends, gorging on favorite foods and imbibing excessive libations of a celebratory nature, and, most essentially, stocking up on necessary supplies for the return journey and the nine months before the next migration.  

Old friendships are reaffirmed and local dialects are used again.  Bewildered offspring are immersed in the culture of their parents’ heritage, which often includes being obliged to kiss aged relations in the matriarchal or patriarchal line and permit the pinching of young cheeks.  These family rituals are an attempt to transmit family values, history and culture from one generation to the next.  Male adult members often join the migration at some point, upon which the ritual or tradition called Family Holiday (BritE) or Family Vacation (AmE) ensues.  This is met by much jubilance among the youngsters and relief from the older females.  Varying from family to family, seasonal migration traditions may also include family reunions, with inexplicable matching t-shirts for all participants, adults and children alike. (Which would make a whole 'nother post.)

St. George's Island, Florida, circa 2002

First cousins

Then finally, with suitcases at capacity and appetites sated, more tears are shed and farewells are exchanged as our travelers complete the migratory circle, returning to their expat homes just in time for the start of the new school year.  

According to a United Nations projection, there might well be over 200 million expats in this big world, depending on your exact definition of expat.  How many are in the migration circle, even as I type?  Are you?  Leave me a comment!  I finished my circle early this year and Dubai is feeling pretty empty. 

But enough fun with social anthropology.  Since it’s Monday, you know I’ve got a muffin for you.  

Ingredients

2 cups or 250g flour

2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

5oz or 140g light brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

1/3 cup or 80ml canola

1/2 cup or 120ml milk

2 large, ripe bananas

About 3/4 cup or 75g walnuts

12 walnut halves and powdered sugar (optional for decorating)

Method

Preheat your oven to 375F° or 190°C and prepare your 12-cup muffin pan by greasing or lining with paper muffin cups. 

In a large bowl mix together your flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and brown sugar.  

In a smaller bowl, whisk your milk, canola oil and eggs, along with the two ripe bananas.  

Chop your walnuts.  

Pour your wet ingredients into your dry ingredients and stir until just combined.  

Now fold in the chopped nuts. 

Evenly distribute the batter among the muffin cups.  

Top with one walnut half per muffin, if desired. 

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes.  Remove the muffins from the muffin pan and finish cooling on a rack.  

Sprinkle with a little powdered sugar – optional, but look how pretty! 

Enjoy! 

Roasted Broccoli with Quinoa and Bulgur Wheat

Last year I went to Paris to visit a friend and I bought a box of mixed quinoa and bulgur wheat.  Don’t you love the little line in French that says, The Rice of the Incas?

Lest you think the only souvenirs I buy are edible, I also came home with some little tart pans I found at the Marche´ aux Puces or flea market.  Only three Euros for all nine!

Yeah, yeah, I know.  Still food related.  What can I say?  The roasted broccoli with quinoa and bulgur is not the most beautiful dish, but it sure is tasty.  I haven’t been able to find the mix again but this is just as delicious with only quinoa or only bulgur.  Or mix your own.

Ingredients
About 12 oz or 340g broccoli florets
1 cup or 180g quinoa and bulgur
32 oz or 1 liter vegetable stock or water with stock cubes to make same
Juice 1/2 a lemon
Sea salt flakes (I like Maldon.)
Black pepper
Olive oil
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons butter

Method
Preheat oven to 400°F or 200°C.

Rinse your broccoli in a bowl and drain.

Sprinkle on the sea salt and black pepper and drizzle with olive oil.  Squeeze on the lemon juice and toss the broccoli florets to coat.

Put it in a single layer in a baking pan and roast broccoli for about 10-12 minutes.

When the broccoli is roasted, let it cool and chop into smaller pieces.  It should still be quite crunchy.

Meanwhile, finely slice your garlic and set it aside.

Cook the bulgur and quinoa mix according to package instructions (about 15-20 minutes or until almost all the stock has been absorbed.)

Add the sliced garlic to the bulgur/quinoa pot.  Stir.

Add the chopped broccoli to the pot, turn off the flame and cover the pot with a lid.

Leave covered for 15-20 minutes and then pop in two tablespoons butter.  Replace the lid to melt the butter.

Stir and fluff with a fork before serving.

Enjoy!

Carrot Mascarpone Muffins with Mascarpone Filling

A philosophical question for you:  When is a muffin a muffin and not a cupcake?  I do declare that it is when you abstain from adding frosting to it.  Crumbles are acceptable.  And streusel toppings.  And even glaze, but a muffin cannot have thick icing or frosting or whatever you like to call the sweet whipped stuff made with butter and sugar.  Because then it is a cupcake.  I realize this may be pedantic of me, but there you are.  I’ll own it.

Which brings me to this week’s muffin.  My younger daughter requested a carrot muffin because our ingredient this week is mascarpone.  And nothing goes better with carrot cake than cream cheese icing.  But, she knows how I feel about icing on muffins.  (See above.)  So she suggested I add a mascarpone filling.  That girl is a genius and knows the way around her mother.  These were perfect!

Ingredients
6 oz or 170g carrots
1 1/2 cups or 190g flour
3/4 cup or 170g sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt + pinch for filling
8 oz or 226g mascarpone (Divided – half for muffins, half for filling)
1/2 cup or 120ml canola oil
1 egg
1/4 cup or about 30g powdered sugar (for filling)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method
Peel your carrots and cut them into short lengths.  Boil until tender.  Drain and mash with a potato masher until fairly smooth.  Set aside to cool.

Preheat your oven to 375°f or 190°C and prepare a 12-cup muffin pan by greasing it or lining the pan with muffin cups.

In a large mixing bowl, combine your flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.

In a small bowl, combine the egg, oil, cooled carrots and half of the mascarpone.  Mix thoroughly.  You will have to mash the mascarpone to get it mixed in.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until just mixed.

Divide the thick batter between the muffin cups in your prepared pan.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Remove the muffins from the pan and cool completely on a rack.

Meanwhile, mix the other half of the mascarpone with the powdered sugar, vanilla and a pinch of salt.  Refrigerate the filling until the muffins are completely cool.

When your muffins are cool, use a sharp knife to cut a circle out of the middle of the muffin.

Lift the core out of the muffin and fill with a small spoonful of the sweetened mascarpone.

Cut the bottom off of the little muffin plug you removed and stuff the top in back on top of the filling.  Eat the pieces you cut off.  Baker’s privilege.  Remark to yourself that those are some fine bits of carrot mascarpone muffin.

Enjoy!  If you are really feeling the need for carrot cake with cream cheese icing, head over here.

Muffin Monday is an initiative by Baker Street, a culinary journey of sharing a wickedly delicious muffin recipe every week.  Drop Anuradha a quick line to join her on this journey to make the world smile and beat glum Monday mornings week after week.  Make sure to go and check out what my fellow bloggers have come up with this week!

Plus learn all you ever need to know about muffins, right here at Muffin 101.