Low fat Banana Muffins

Whenever I go shopping I always make sure that I buy some basic fruits like bananas, pears, apples and oranges and vegetables like carrots, potatoes, tomatoes and lettuce. Even if they might not be eaten on regular basis, these would be always seen in my fridge. I sometimes end up buying them even if I don’t want them just to give me a feel that I am actually having some fruits and vegetable. I make sure that they are always there at home, hoping myself to eat vegetables and fruits. I am an anti-fruit and anti-vegetable person when it comes to eating it in raw forms. Even if it is the delicious mango, the case is not different. So I always end up using them in my curries (vegetables) or if fruits, it goes into any delectable but calorie laden dessert, smoothie or a cake.

This banana muffin was also born to save bananas from binning. Unlike carrots and potatoes, bananas have a very short shelf life. They ripen at a rapid pace, which if not used up will have to be thrown away. I normally add them to my smoothies like banana and peanut butter smoothie (Has anyone ever tried that?), strawberry banana smoothie, apple and banana etc. This time it was a plain banana muffin. Din’t bother adding any nuts or chocolates because I was not sure of the outcome and my son hates nuts in his cakes. I have reduced the fat as minimum as I could imagine and added some milk to keep some moisture in. The result was a fabulous light and spongy banana muffins. It was made with the intention of low fat muffin so it lacks the buttery goodness or richness from fat. As you can see I just used 3 tbsp oil, but it was really moist and I am quite happy with the result. If you prefer the buttery rich kind of muffin you may omit milk and try adding more oil. I thought it would be just me gulping these muffins, but my family loved it too. So I would try adding more melted butter or vegetable oil next time to see what difference it makes.

Low Fat Banana Muffins

Makes 9 medium muffins, serves 9

Ingredients:

1 cup Plain flour

3 Tbsp/45 mls vegetable oil

2 large bananas mashed (300g, peeled weight)

1 large egg

½ cup castor sugar

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp salt

4 Tbsp whole milk

1 tsp vanilla essence

Few sliced bananas – optional

½ cup chopped nuts or chocolate chips - optional

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 190 degree Celsius. Sift together flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Add in chocolate chips or chopped nuts if using. I left it plain.

2. In another bowl, mash banana. Add to it lightly beaten egg, milk, oil and vanilla essence.

3. Pour the wet ingredients to dry ones and fold until no dry flour is visible.

4. Place 9 medium sized muffin cases in the muffin pan. Scoop the batter into muffin cases until it is ¾ full. Place a slice of banana on top and bake for 20-25 minutes or until it springs back when lightly pressed.