Daring Bakers: Quick breads

BANANA MUFFINS WITH DRIED FRUIT AND TWO SPREADS  

The Daring Bakers’ February 2012 host was – Lis! Lis stepped in last minute and challenged us to create a quick bread we could call our own. She supplied us with a base recipe and shared some recipes she loves from various websites and encouraged us to build upon them and create new flavour profiles.

Thank you Lis (the co-founder of The Daring Kitchen!) for stepping in and for thinking of quick breads. They are relatively simple to make, but are really a great repertoire of baked goods to have. 

I went with muffins for this challenge. The great thing about muffins is how easily adaptable they are. I used a basic banana muffin recipe and then added ingredients to it.

I got to use up some of the dried fruit I had left over from making a Christmas cake, which included orange peel and candied winter melon (they're not very clear in the picture above, but it's those white chunks; for what the candy looks like, see this blog).

Wonky but the shape doesn't matter

I wanted to use a silicone dariole mould that I had, which produces narrow long cakes. For some reason, one side of the muffins rose (reminds me of Yorkshire puddings) and produced these wonky little breads. I think they are quite cute though.

Not that muffins need creamy toppings like cupcakes, but I was trying for a Yin-Yang look for the lead picture. I cut a muffin in half on the cross-section, and served it with chocolate hazelnut spread on one side and cream cheese icing on the other. 

Another muffin I made using my silicone mould was an egg-free recipe from Dan Lepard for Mocha Fig Muffins (from The Guardian). I used sunflower seeds as a garnish, though any flaked or chopped nut can be used.

Dan Lepard's Mocha Fig Muffins

Now, this muffin, for me, was a study in contrasts. The little fig seeds added a bit of texture, and the dried figs themselves made it sticky. The muffin batter was thick and scoops of it could have probably simply been placed onto baking trays and they would have come out as little buns. They were stodgy, but in a nice way, if that makes sense. Weird, but wonderful. I really liked it. I would add more coffee though, as the taste didn't come through.