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Mexican Nutella and Banana Empanadas

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Flaky pie crust encases chili and cinnamon spiked Nutella and sweet bananas, baked with a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar. The perfect dessert or breakfast for Cinco De Mayo, or any time!

Mexican Nutella and Banana Empanadas

I’ve had a jar of Nutella in my kitchen for a couple of months now, waiting for inspiration to strike. The fact that it’s lasted that long is kind of a miracle, it’s not unknown for me to just eat Nutella with a spoon – but I resisted until I came up with something awesome to bake with it. Inspiration struck this morning when I realised I hadn’t baked anything for Cinco De Mayo yet, which is just unacceptable because Mexican food is far too delicious for me not to honor the holiday on my blog in the form of something sweet! I went through a couple of ideas before landing on empanadas, and then Nutella and banana seemed like the obvious choice of filling – to me anyway!

Mexican Nutella and Banana Empanadas

 

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Elvis Cake

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Incredibly moist banana cake with creamy peanut butter Swiss meringue butter cream – filled with fried bananas and topped with candied bacon. Oh, and did I mention there’s a lot of bourbon thrown in too? A cake fit for the king! 

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Elvis Cake

It’s my birthday! As I said before, I’m not big on birthdays, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want an awesome birthday cake! That’s the best part about birthdays any, a great reason to eat as much cake as you like! I’m eating a slice right now in fact, I only got up 30 minutes ago but it’s my birthday so I’m allowed! 

Elvis Cake

 

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Banoffee Muffins

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Insanely delicious and moist, these Banoffee Muffins are full of yummy banana and sweet toffee flavour – with perfect high muffin tops

Banoffee Muffins

I love smooshing words together to make one new word, which is probably why I say y’all every other sentence even though I’m painfully English! For those of you who don’t know what banoffee is – first of all, I’m sorry, because that means you’ve never had the heavenly experience of banoffee pie! Banoffee is a combination of Banana and Toffee, banoffee pie is a no bake pie with toffee, fresh bananas and whipped cream and it’s to die for. I actually have a recipe for it that I posted last year. This year though I decided banoffee would be an amazing muffin flavour and boy was I right! 

Banoffee Muffins

It’s no secret that I like to buy bunches of bananas and leave them in the fruit bowl to go brown so I can bake with them – I don’t actually like eating bananas by themselves. So I had 4 bananas getting very, very brown and I had to decide what to do with them, my first thought was chocolate banana ice cream and these muffins. I made the chocolate banana ice cream first and while it was it was delicious I couldn’t stop thinking about this muffin idea! Especially since I had a bag of Heath Toffee Bits that I brought back from America with me that would be perfect for them. So out to buy more bananas I went – supermarkets should really have a section of very ripe bananas so I don’t have to play the waiting game! I mean, they sell still green ones so why not already brown ones?!

Banoffee Muffins

These muffins were totally worth the wait though. The little bits of toffee melt into the muffin making them indescribably moist and bursting with sweetness all over. The toffee is perfectly balanced with the amazing banana flavour in every bite, the two flavours really do compliment each other in the best way. And while these muffins are incredibly moist, they’re not too dense or heavy, they have the perfect muffin texture with high, chewy muffins tops. There are also semi sweet chocolate chips dispersed throughout, to cut through the sweetness of the banana and toffee and also because I like my banoffee pie with a tad of chocolate (just the way I like life too!).

Banoffee Muffins

And don’t just take my word on how good these muffins are. My mum’s work colleagues are my willing taste testers and one of them referred to these muffins as “stunning and better than sex”, which is a pretty good testimonial in my book! So trust us on this one, make these muffins and everybody who tries them will be your new best friend – got your eye on a promotion at work? Pop a basket of these muffins on your boss’s desk and you’re a shoe-in…. not that I’m advocating bribery (nothing wrong with a little buttering up though, hey?). 

Banoffee Muffins

The one and only downside to these muffins is you can’t buy Heath Toffee Bits in the UK, so I’m waiting on the best friend to mail me over a few bags so I can make these again. In the mean time though I might try experimenting with toffee products I can get here in the UK, or perhaps I’ll try making my own toffee crunch. If you can’t get Heath Toffee Bits where you live and you decide to experiment with other things (which I highly encourage, even if they don’t come out perfect I’m willing to bet the experiments will still be delicious!) please do let me know how it turned out. And hey, if the makers of Heath Toffee want to send me some Toffee Bits they’d be very warmly received -wink wink-

Banoffee Muffins

A muffin isn’t a muffin with a nice high, chewy top so I can’t ever post a recipe for muffins without including how I make sure I always get one – the secret is to fill the muffin cases or holes to the top and baking on a higher temperature for the first ten minutes of baking. Because of all the moistening factors in these muffins I used bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) and vinegar as my leavening agent so they wouldn’t end up too dense, it really gives them a great lift. 

Banoffee Muffins

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Banoffee Muffins
Yields 12
Insanely delicious and moist, these banoffee muffins are bursting with sweet toffee and banana flavour.
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Ingredients
  1. 220g plain flour (all purpose)
  2. 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
  3. 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
  4. 1 bag of Heath Toffee Bits (8oz/225g)
  5. 200g semi-sweet chocolate chips
  6. 4 very ripe bananas
  7. 125ml Vegetable oil
  8. 1 tbsp white vinegar
  9. 2 large eggs
  10. 100g brown sugar
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 230C/450F. Line a 12 hole muffin tray with papers.
  2. Add the flour, cinnamon and bicarb to a bowl and whisk to combine. Remove 1 tbsp and put in medium bowl. Set both aside.
  3. Mash the bananas in a large bowl (you can also put them in blender if you want them smooth, I like a few small lumps in mine).
  4. Beat in the oil and vinegar until combined.
  5. Add the eggs one at a time and beat to combine.
  6. Add sugar and beat to combine.
  7. Add flour (not reserved 1 tbsp) and gently beat until just combined (do not overmix).
  8. Remove 1-2 tbsp of the toffee bits and set aside, add the remaining toffee bits and chocolate chips to the bowl with the 1tbsp flour mixture and stir to coat (this helps stop them all sinking to the bottom of the muffins)
  9. Gently stir the toffee bits and chocolate chips into the muffin batter by hand until evenly dispersed.
  10. Spoon batter into muffin papers, up to the top. Sprinkle the tops with the reserved 1-2 tbsp of toffee bits.
  11. Bake for 10 minutes at 230C/450F. Without opening the oven door, turn the oven down to 200C/400F and bake for a further 10-15 minutes, until muffins are golden brown and skewer comes out without wet batter.
  12. Cool in tray for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack.
  13. Yummy served warm or cooled
Notes
  1. It's important not to over mix the batter, the less you mix it the lighter your crumb will be
  2. I used Heath bits o' brickle toffee bits, but I'm sure the milk chocolate ones would be good too
  3. Store in air tight container for 3-5 days
A Tipsy Giraffe https://www.atipsygiraffe.com/
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Banoffee Muffins

Chocolate Banana Ice Cream

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Chocolate Banana Ice Cream

What’s that? Winter you say? Sounds like the perfect time for ice cream to me! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – it’s never too cold for ice cream. I know lots of you are covered in snow right now, and I bet ice cream would make you feel better about that! Don’t believe me? Try this super chocolatey ice cream full of banana sweetness and I’ll wait for you to tell me I’m right, I won’t even tell you I told you so – I’m nice like that!

Chocolate Banana Ice Cream

I’m on a bit of banana kick at the moment. I keep buying them and just waiting for them to go over ripe in the fruit bowl, so I can make something yummy with them! With this batch of bananas I was torn between two ideas, so I did the only thing I could – made one of them and bought more bananas so I could make the other thing too! This yummy chocolate banana ice cream was the result of the first batch – creamy, chocolatey, sweet and oh so delicious! 

Chocolate Banana Ice Cream

Now I know you’ve probably heard about that healthy banana ice cream that is pretty much just mashed frozen bananas, but you’re not going to find any of that kind of healthiness here I’m afraid – this is proper ice cream, full of real cream! It still has bananas in though, so it’s entirely bad for you right? All that potassium totally negates all the fat and sugar I’m sure of it! Come to think of it, with all that potassium this ice cream is sure to be a hangover buster. See, I’m looking out for you guys 😉

Chocolate Banana Ice Cream

I originally thought about just banana ice cream, but then I remembered everything is made better by chocolate so I had to add it! I use both cocoa powder and melted chocolate in this ice cream, to really give it that chocolate boost. It doesn’t over power the banana though, both flavours punch through beautifully alone while also complimenting each other! I put a little cinnamon in there too a) because I’m me and b) cinnamon really does compliment banana so nicely. You will need an ice cream maker for this recipe, but it’s a worthwhile investment if you love ice cream as much as me! 

Chocolate Banana Ice Cream

So let’s do a headcount shall we? Banana? Check! Chocolate? Check! Real cream? Check! Deliciousness? Double check! Yep, this ice cream really does have it all! You won’t be sorry you made this, and neither will your family/friends/random people who show up at your house to eat your ice cream. Serve it up with some fresh banana slices or even on top of a nice warm pie, and you’ll have one awesome dessert! Since it’s homemade it won’t last as long as your store bought ice cream, but trust me when I tell you it won’t have a chance to go bad – you’ll be lucky if it lasts overnight! 

Chocolate Banana Ice Cream

 

Chocolate Banana Ice Cream

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Chocolate Banana Ice Cream
Delicious chocolate banana ice cream, simple to make and oh so worth it
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Ingredients
  1. 4 Bananas, very ripe
  2. 1/2 cup brown sugar
  3. 60g chocolate finely chopped
  4. 1 cup double cream
  5. 2/3 cup milk
  6. 1/4 cup cocoa powder
  7. Pinch of salt
  8. 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
  9. 2 egg yolks
Instructions
  1. Put the bananas and 1/8 cup of the sugar in a blender, and blend to combine. Only do a couple pulses if you'd like little chunks of bananas in your ice cream like me, otherwise blend until smooth. Set aside.
  2. Put the chocolate in a medium bowl. Heat 3/4 cup the cream until bubbles just start to appear and pour over chocolate. Leave to stand for 1 minute and then stir until smooth.
  3. Pour the cream and chocolate mixture back into the pan with the milk, rest of the sugar, cocoa, salt and cinnamon. Heat on medium, stirring occasionally, until sugar is all dissolved and it just starts to steam. Remove from heat
  4. Whisk egg yolks in a bowl. Ladle 1/4 cup of the cream mixture into the bowl with the eggs and whisk in. Repeat with 2 more 1/4 cups of the mixture - until egg yolks are warm to touch.
  5. Pour egg mixture into the pan and return to a medium heat. Stir constantly until mixture thickens. It's ready when it coats the back of the spoon - it will be about 80C/170F on a candy thermometer. Do not boil!
  6. Remove from heat and stir in the rest of the cream and the banana mix. Transfer to a bowl.
  7. Fill a bowl slightly larger than the bowl your custard is in with ice water, place the custard bowl in the ice water. Cool in ice bath for 20 minutes, until room temperature (make sure no water can spill into the custard). Transfer to the fridge and chill for 3 hours or overnight.
  8. Freeze the custard in your ice cream maker according to your ice cream maker's instructions.
  9. Once it reaches a soft serve consistency, transfer to your storage container and place in freezer overnight.
  10. Leave at room temperature for at least 10 minutes before scooping and serving
Notes
  1. Keep in airtight container for up to 2 weeks in the freezer
  2. I used dark chocolate, but milk chocolate will be good too - whichever you prefer.
  3. Recipe makes about 1 quart (950ml)
A Tipsy Giraffe https://www.atipsygiraffe.com/
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Chocolate Banana Muffins

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Chocolate Banana Muffins

Happy New Year everybody! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and 2015 is full of non stop awesome for you! I’m not big on New Year’s resolutions, especially diet related ones! I’m a baker and I’m very attached to my butter and sugar, dieting just isn’t for me even if I would like to lose a couple pounds. With that said, the first recipe I’m posting in 2015 is pretty healthy! I’m not a calorie or nutrition counter so I don’t know how healthy these are but they have no butter, the majority of the sweetness comes from the bananas with only a small amount of brown sugar supplementing it. They’re also made with wholemeal (whole wheat) flour – they’re practically a health food! These will also be dairy free if you use chocolate chips that don’t contain dairy (I use semi-sweet chips, which do contain traces of milk I believe). You could also potentially make them vegan with a little fiddling, replacing the eggs with applesauce would probably work but I haven’t tested that, so I can’t say for sure. 

Chocolate Banana Muffins

These chocolate banana muffins are also delicious, way more delicious than they are healthy which is my kind of muffin! They’re a nice dense, moist muffin, I hate those muffins that are like biting into air, I want some substance in my muffins – leave the light and airy for the cupcakes! They’re equally chocolatey and banana-ry, with a hint of cinnamon to give them a nice flavour depth. The chocolate chips are definitely a must too, they add little chunks of chocolatey goodness and a little extra sweetness, 

Chocolate Banana Muffins

These muffins came about because I had a few way too ripe bananas – my first idea was, naturally, banana bread, but I only had three bananas so it would have been a very small loaf! Muffins seemed like a great idea and they really were! Over ripened bananas are so great for baking, never ever throw away those brown bananas okay! They look pretty nasty and aren’t fun to eat, but the riper they get the sweeter they are, so when they’re all brown and mushy, there’s so much natural sweetness in them that’s perfect for baking, you can even cut down on your sugar usage because of all the natural sweetness. Next time you have some bananas getting a bit too comfy in your kitchen, you should definitely turn them into these muffins, you’ll love them! They’re worth buying bananas especially to make these muffins, you’ll have some waiting time but they’re so yummy it’s worth the wait. 

Chocolate Banana Muffins

Because of all the natural sweetness, you really can have them at any time. Grab one for a quick and tasty breakfast in the morning, pack one in the kid’s lunchbox for a snack or treat, or even pass them out as dessert after dinner – everybody will love them any time of the day. They have those wonderful domed and chewy muffins tops that are essential for a good muffin! The best way, I find, to get a good muffin top is to fill the paper cases up until they’re almost full and then bake on a high temperature for 10 minutes before lowering it to bake throughout – I never fail to get a great muffin top with that method! 

Chocolate Banana Muffins

So, 2015 is finally upon us! The year of my golden birthday, the rugby world cup, the year of general elections in the UK and, assuming she’s still reigning towards the end of the year, Queen Elizabeth II will be our longest reigning queen, beating Queen Victoria! And lots more yet to be determined I’m sure. I haven’t made any proper resolutions but I do plan on a few changes this year to help make it a good year – and of course, there will be lots of baking! Do you guys have any big plans for 2015? Have you made any resolutions? 

Chocolate Banana Muffins

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