Miso Banana Muffins
I first spotted Nigella’s banana bread recipe more than 15 years ago. Since then, I have used it as a template to experiment and create a twist of my own. Dare I say, that during the first lockdown, I actually got the recipe down to a tee, until I eventually tried my hand at making Banana Ketchup (wink, wink – origin story ALERT).
I have added miso in my recipe, although you could do without it if you don’t have any at hand – substitute for one banana more and a pinch of salt in your flour mix. However, miso will certainly add umami to your recipe and a complexity and pizzaz to your humble banana bread! It marries really well the sweet earthiness of the banana and bitterness of the dark chocolate used in this recipe. It’s worth a try if you like to elevate your BB game.
Making this recipe into muffins also cuts down the cooking time considerably, making it ideal for batch cooking for packed lunches for grown-ups and kids alike!
- 175g of flour (I particularly favour a mix of 50% plain flour with 50% spelt flour)
- 2 tsp of baking powder
- ½ tsp of baking soda
- 125 of sunflower oil or vegan butter
- 150g of light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 3 ripe bananas, mashed
- 1 tbsp of white miso
- 1 tsp of vanilla essence
- 200g of dark cooking chocolate, finely chopped
Preheat the oven 170C/150C fan.
Mix the dry ingredients, flour, baking powder and soda in a bowl and reserve. Prepare your muffin tins with cases or oil, and dust them with flour.
In a large bowl, beat your oil/butter with the sugar. Beat one egg at time and then add the mashed bananas, miso and vanilla essence. Using a wooden spoon, incorporate your chocolate. Add the flour mixture gradually, stirring it in well.
Spoon the mixture into your tins; you want it just a little bit below the level of the tin and they will rise to a nice dome. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Leave them to cool for 10 minutes on a rack.
