Usually at the weekend I like to bake us something that we can enjoy for breakfast or with a hot drink. I do bake sweet things too.
I am not sure why I always bake at the weekend. I suppose it is a habit that started when I was working full time. I did not really have much time during the week to bake us anything special. We were lucky I managed to get dinner done!
The recipe I am sharing with you today for Sugar-Free Banana Nut Muffins has been adapted from a cookbook of mine entitled Bread for Breakfast by Beth Hensperger.
It is filled with lots of baked Breakfast options, including muffins, loaves (both sweet and savoury, quick and yeasted), Scones, Biscuits, cornbreads, etc.
There are also a sections on coffee cakes and holiday bakes, pancakes and waffles, as well as butters, jams and fruit and cheese spreads.
Its not an overly large book, but it is filled with quite a few goodies. Old fashioned as well as the new. Its one of my favourite breakfast baking books.
I was intrigued by this Banana Muffin recipe because it was sugar free. These days we have all been brainwashed by popular coffee spots and warehouse stores into think that a muffin is supposed to a small cake. Similar to a cupcake but without frosting!
As a consequence, our tastebuds have come to expect that every muffin we eat should be stogged full of sugar in one form or another. Ultra sweet, containing candy like chocolate chips and the like.
Don't get me wrong, there is absolutely nothing wrong with a chocolate chip muffin. I adore them myself. But a muffin should be a muffin and not a little cake. Know what I mean.
This muffin recipe boasts no sugar at all. Nada. Zip. Zero sugar. Instead it relies upon the sweetness of the fruit to bring sweet into the mix. In this case bananas.
Bananas are quite sweet fruit and the longer you allow them to ripen the sweeter they get. The best bananas for baking are ones which are heavily speckled with brown, maybe even to the point where you think they are past it.
But they are not past it. They are perfect and sweet and ready to be baked into muffins and loaves, cookies, cakes, etc.
These are lovely and moist. There is buttermilk in the batter. I love bakes with buttermilk. Buttermilk adds a special lightness and tenderness to bakes such as this.
It is an acid as well, so it helps to create a nice lift. You always need to add bicarbonate of soda to a bake using something acidic like buttermilk, yogurt, sour cream, etc.
When baking soda is combined with the lactic acids of buttermilk, the acid neutralizes the metallic taste of sodium carbonate, and the batter will bubble and expand.
This is why when you are baking something with buttermilk and soda in it you need to get your bake into the oven as quickly as possible. This is to help take advantage of that chemical reaction.
The heat of the oven will immediately increase the effects of that action giving you a nice tall and light bake. If you wait too long to put your bakes into the oven you will risk losing that effect, and in fact you will decrease the action of the buttermilk and the soda as well.
So speed is the key factor here. Make sure you have your pan greased and everything ready to go as soon as you mix the wet and dry ingredients together!
So, no sugar. These muffins have no sugar whatsoever. I didn't mind. The end result was not sweet at all actually. It was just right. Just what I would expect a true muffin to taste like.
If you want sweet, you will have to add a bit of sugar into the mix. I wouldn't think you would need a lot actually, maybe only 1 or 2 TBS of either caster sugar or soft light brown sugar.
We enjoyed them just as they were, served warm with some butter for spreading on top. Look at the texture of these beauties. I call that perfection.
The recipe only makes 9 muffins. That's another thing I liked about the recipe. Nine muffins is a perfectly reasonable amount. They also freeze really well according to the recipe. Up to three months in an airtight container.
Baking things like this at the weekend means I also get to use my roll cover. My good friend Monique sent this sweet embroidered roll cover to me last year, or possibly even the year before, for my Birthday.
Every time I use it I cannot help but think of her, and her many kindnesses to me through the years. Meeting good and kind people is one of the blessings you gain from being a member of the blogging community.
Like is attracted to like. These sweet friendships are one of the things I love most about blogging. That sense of community. Oh sure there is the odd nasty person, or troll as they are called, but the good ones far outweigh them.
There are some pecans in these muffins. Chopped pecans. I always like to toast my nuts before baking with them. It doesn't take much of an effort. It only takes a few minutes on a dry baking sheet in a hot oven.
They are done when they start to smell all nice and nutty. Do watch them however, as they can go from toasty to burnt in milliseconds. Five to eight minutes at 200*C/400*F will do the trick.
You could add chocolate chips. Just saying. I like semi-sweet chocolate chips or milk chocolate chips. Both are quite nice in banana muffins. You could even add some berries. Blueberries would be nice.
If you rely on the sweetness of your muffin to come from the sweetness of the banana you really don't have to feel guilty about spreading them with butter while hot, and maybe even drizzling them with a bit of honey if you can tolerate honey.
As a diabetic, honey sends my sugar levels sky-rocketing. Even just a little bit on the tip of my tongue. Its a shame really because I have always loved honey.
Anyways, if you are looking for a nice, moist and not overly sweet muffin, with plenty of toasty nut crunch, then you have come to the right place! These fit the bill on all counts!
Sugar-Free Banana Nut Muffins
Yield: Makes 9 Muffins
prep time: 10 Mincook time: 25 Mininactive time: 5 Mintotal time: 40 Min
This is an interesting muffin adapted from a cookery book by Beth Henshberger entitled Bread for Breakfast. This is a lovely moist muffin that truly is not too sweet, relying only on the sweetness of the banana. I think this is what muffins were originally intended to be. Breads and not Cake.
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups (210g) plain flour
- 1/2 cup (70g)whole wheat flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup (60g) chopped toasted pecan nuts
- 1 cup (240ml) buttermilk
- 2 large free range eggs
- 120ml (1/2 cup) canola oil
- 2 medium sized ripe bananas
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Butter a muffin tin really well, or spray with non-stick cooking spray.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder, soda and cinnamon. Stir in the salt. Stir in the toasted pecans.
- Beat the oil, eggs, buttermilk and vanilla together with a wire wisk to combine well. Stir in the mashed banana. Pour this mixture into the dry ingrdients and fold everything together with a plastic spatula just to combine.
- Immediately spoon into the prepared muffin tin, filling each hole to the rim.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes. The muffins should be well risen and a toothpick inserted in the centre of one should come out clean.
- Let cool in the pan for about 5 minutes before tipping out onto a wire rack to cool.
notes:
Do not allow these to overbake. I would definitely check them at 20 minutes. If you must you can add 2 TBS of brown sugar to the wet ingredients to add a bit more sweetness. Any leftovers can be stored in an air tight container, or frozen for up to 3 months.
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com
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In my quest to create more small batch recipes, this week I created a small batch Gingerbread Cake, built for two with leftovers. Not enough leftovers that you have it hanging around for a week or two or three.
Just enough so that you can enjoy it once as a dessert with something lush spooned over top, and once as a teatime treat, served warm, split and buttered. I hope that I am not the only person who enjoys my gingercake buttered!
This is a lovely ginger cake, lacking none of the delicious flavours of a full sized ginger cake. It may be diminutive in size, but it is not diminutive in flavour!
It packs every bit as much of a flavour wallop as a full sized ginger cake/bread. There is plenty of warm baking spices in there and plenty of everything else we enjoy about this lush treat!
I have always been fond of gingerbread, probably since I read the story of Hansel and Gretel and the witches Gingerbread House. I don't blame those two children for being tempted, I really don't.
I find myself wondering what did the forest smell like around the witch's property? Was it the smell of the gingerbread that lured Hansel and Gretel to venture close?
I confess that a huge part of the pleasure from a ginger bread or cake comes from that fabulous smell which permeates the air of your home while it is baking.
There is something really special about the combination of warm baking spices and wood smoke. It is really quite, quite intoxicating!
It really doesn't matter if you are baking a full sized one or a small sized one, the smell is the same. Comforting. Welcoming. Home Sweet Home. Hugs and family.
When I lived in Canada and had a wood stove, I confess I used to keep a pot of water with the warm baking spices simmering on the back of the stove all day in the winter months. People always thought I was baking.
For this cake I used the warm baking spices of ground ginger, ground cinnamon, ground cloves and ground cardamom.
I was tempted to add a bit of vanilla and lemon extracts, but I didn't this time. They would be nice, however I would not add more than 1/4 teaspoon of each.
It also has a small amount of molasses, which is another ingredient which makes ginger cakes and bread so beautiful. Moist. Warm. Inviting.
You know back home in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island most people keep a pouring jug of molasses on the table at all times, and for all meals. If you grew up on the East Coast of Canada (or American for that matter) you had a jug of it in your cupboard.
People back there eat it with bread and butter. It has a long, long culinary history. This is largely due in fact to the history of Maritime trading between these Eastern provinces and states and the West Indies.
People back there eat it with bread and butter. It has a long, long culinary history. This is largely due in fact to the history of Maritime trading between these Eastern provinces and states and the West Indies.
Back in the 1870's Lorenzo Crosby started an import/export business in Yarmouth Nova Scotia. In the late 1890's he moved the business to Saint John, New Brunswick.
He transported Maritime fish and lumber to the West Indies and the ships returned loaded to the gunwales with barrels of fancy molasses.
At first it was used to make rum, but Maritime Canadians developed a taste for it and before too long it was finding its way into many culinary delights such as baked beans, brown bread, cookies, and yes, gingerbread.
.
We cannot help it. We Maritimers have molasses running through our veins. My grandmother and mother made the best molasses cookies and gingerbread you could ever want to eat.
If you want a full recipe for a great gingerbread/cake you can find it here. Grandmother's Gingerbread. It is rich and moist and incredibly tasty.
If you want a full recipe for a great gingerbread/cake you can find it here. Grandmother's Gingerbread. It is rich and moist and incredibly tasty.
Ginger bread and cakes have a wonderful infinity for the flavour of lemon. I sometimes make a lemon sauce to serve with our ginger creations. You will find a recipe for another delicious Gingerbread and a lucious Spiced Lemon Sauce here.
I do have quite a few recipes for gingerbreads and cakes on this blog actually. You can see it is a real favourite of ours. Just because we are only two that doesn't mean we can't still enjoy it.
This lemon cream goes beautifully with this cake. It is rich and lush and lemony. I could eat it with a spoon on its own.
Its also relatively simple to make as well. As simple as whipping some cream and folding in some lemon curd. Easy peasy, lemon squeasy!
If you are only two like us, or even if you are only one, I do hope that you will be tempted to bake this lovely dessert/cake/indulgence. I don't think you will regret it.
I guarantee it will be destined to become a family favourite. A smaller family favourite to be exact. Oh but we both enjoyed this today so very much. It will be baked again, and again.
Small Batch Gingerbread Cake with a Lemon Cream
Yield: Makes one 5 inch square cake
prep time: 10 Mincook time: 30 Mininactive time: 15 Mintotal time: 55 Min
This is a beautifully moist and perfectly spiced Gingerbread cake perfectly sized for two people. Its wonderful served warm, split and buttered with a nice hot cuppa, or as a dessert with a nice dollop of lemon cream on top.
Ingredients:
- 2 TBS caster (granulated) sugar
- 2 TBS butter, softened
- 1 large free range egg yolk (Freeze white for another purpose)
- 1/4 cup (88g) mild molasses
- 2/3 cup (90g) plain flour
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- 1/8 tsp ground cardamom
- pinch salt
- 1/4 cup (60ml) boiling water
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter a 5 inch square baking dish really well and set aside.
- Sift together the flour together with all of the spices and soda. Stir in the salt.
- Cream the butter and sugar together unil smooth. Beat in the egg yolk and then the molasses. Add the flour mixture and mix well to combine. Add the boiling water, combining well and then pour into the prepared baking dish.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes until risen, golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
- Let cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting into squares to serve.
- This is lovely split and buttered, or served warm with some ice cream, or whipped cream. I really like it with a lemon cream. See note.
notes:
To make a delicious lemon cream, beat 1/2 cup (120ml) heavy cream until soft peaks form. Fold in a heaped dessert spoon of lemon curd.
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The
English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are
reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you
may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com
I think if there is no dish on earth more beautiful or delicious than a perfectly roasted chicken. It is one of my absolute favourite things to cook and to eat. I am always on the lookout for a new way to prepared it.
You cannot have too many recipes or ways of roasting chicken in my opinion. This recipe I am sharing with you today is a really good one and comes from the Katie Stewart Cookbook which was published in 1983.
Its actually a really excellent cookbook. Its filled to overflowing with recipes selected by Katie Stewart that are her favourites, for every day meals and for entertaining.I don't think you can really go wrong with a book that contains someone's favourite recipes, do you?
Katie Stewart is actually no longer alive. She passed away in 2013 at the age of 78. During the 1960's and 1970's her cookery columns in The Times made her a household name here in the UK.
Her wherewithal equipped the middle classes with all that they needed to be able to entertain successfully by providing them with delicious foolproof recipes. And she did it all without a cookery show, a blog, or much else in the way of bells and whistles.
I first became aware of her when I worked at the Manor down South in Kent. My boss had several of her cookery books. I liked them so much that I purchased several for myself. They are filled with good solid recipes, cookery tips and ideas.
This roast chicken is a bit different than most roast chicken recipes you might see. The chicken actually begins cooking with one breast side down in the roasting tin, and then is flipped over to the other side and finishes with being roasted right side up.
The end result is a succulent, perfectly tender and moist roast chicken that you can be proud to serve to anyone.
I would suggest that you begin with a good roasting chicken. The last few times I have bought a free range whole chicken from The Thoughtful Producer. I purchased them through Ocado the online grocery store.
The Thoughtful Producer specialises in free range and forage fed chickens. I was so impressed with the first one I bought that I didn't hesitate to get another one.
They are very well packaged, and come wrapped with a sturdy bag on the outside (not flimsy cling film you can punch your fingers through. Inside they are wrapped in paper and then inside that is a chicken in a cooking bag.
You can either cook the chicken in the bag, (rosemary is included to insert in the cavity) or outside in a roasting tin. It also has a pop up timer to tell you when the chicken is done and comes with a bag of giblets to aid in making your gravy.
Aside from starting with a really good chicken, you will need to make an herb butter which is insertd into the cavity of the bird. I used finely chopped fresh chives, parsley and thyme, along with a quantity of freshly grated lemon zest and some seasoning.
TOP TIP: If your butter is hard, but it into smaller bits and pop into a bowl. Rinse out another bowl larger enough to cover the intitial bowl with some boiling water and then invert it over the bowl of butter. You will find that within one or two minutes you have perfectly softened butter.
Have you ever seen this kind of potatoes before? They are called Pink Fir Apple Potatoes. My friend Tina's husband Tony grew some this year. They are a fingerling variety of waxy potato that is really good for making salads with.
They really are most unusual looking, covered with little nobbly bits. They are also excellent roasted. I washed them really well, dried them and then cut them into halves lengthwise.
I then tossed them in a baking dish along with 1 TBS of good olive oil and 1 TBS of melted butter, along with the juice from the lemon I had zested to use in the herb butter for the chicken. Waste not want not.
Along with a bit of salt, pepper and a touch of garlic, they roasted beautifully in the oven along with the chicken and were done around the same time as it was finished. Beautifully caramelised and flavourful.
They went perfectly with our roast chicken dinner! Just look at how juicy, golden brown and caramel tinted they turned out. Their flavour and texture was amazing.
Just look at how tender and moist that chicken is. I served it with a gravy that I made from the pan juices. Making a tasty gravy is very easy to do.
You begin by pouring all of the pan juices into a measuring cup. There will be a layer of fat on the top. Spoon off 2 TBS of the fat into a saucepan and discard the remaining fat as best as you can, leaving only the chicken juices.
Heat the fat in the saucepan and whisk in 2 TBS of all pupose/plain flour until smooth. Let it cook for several minutes to cook out the flour taste.
Add chicken stock or water to the remaining pan juices in the measuring cup to bring it up to 480ml or two cups of liquid. You want to whisk this slowly into the fat and flour roux in the saucepan.
Continue to cook it, whisking continuously until the mixture comes to the boil and thickens nicely. You should have a really beautiful tasting gravy there.
You can adjust the seasoning as you wish. This will be perfect spooned over your roasted chicken and vegetables. You cannot get a nicer tasting gravy.
What is your favourite part of the chicken to eat? Todd always enjoys the legs, whereas I like the breast meat. I also am awfully fond of those two little nuggets you will find on the bottom of the chicken.
They are like little oyters of dark and delicious meat. Having absorbed all of the chicken juices and goodness throughout the cook time. They are quite delectable
It is the same with any bird, even turkey. I call them the cooks treat! They are reserved for me. Little nuggets of deliciousness.
You can serve whatever vegetables you want to serve with your roast dinner. Today I served the roasted potatoes, some mashed potatoes, baby peas, carrots and mashed swede (turnips/rutabaga).
Normally I would also serve stuffing with a roast dinner like this, but I was too tired today to make any stuffing. If you are looking for a really tasty stuffing recipe I highly recommend my Sage and Onion Stuffing which you will find here.
Normally when I make it I make extra and freeze it, ready to pull out for occasions such as today. Unfortunately I had alread used all which I had frozen.
I think the next day I feel really energetic I will make a big batch and then freeze it in two cup containers, ready to haul out and use when I want some stuffing.
That is my favourite stuffing. I could eat it with a spoon. Its almost dangerous for me to have in the refrigerator because I find myself picking at the leftovers constantly.
When a stuffing tastes just as good cold as it does hot, you know you have a winner there!
All in all this was a most delicious dinner. My husband felt really spoiled. He loves a good roast dinner. I do too actually.
Yes, they are a lot of work to pull together, but think of how very delicious all the leftovers are going to be. In sandwiches, as soup, in a casserole . . .
I never mind paying a premium for a good roasting chicken. I always know I will get at least three meals from a good sized bird, which makes for a very delicious economy indeed.
Roast Chicken with Herbs
Yield: 4
prep time: 10 Mincook time: 1 Hourinactive time: 10 Mintotal time: 1 H & 20 M
Moist, delicious and filled with lovely flavours from the inside out. dapted from Katie Stewart's Cookbook.
Ingredients:
- 1 3 lb. (1.4 kg) oven-ready chicken
- 3 ounces (75g) butter, divided
- 1 TBS finely chopped fresh parsley
- 1 TBS freshly chopped fresh chives
- 1 tsp freshly chopped fresh thyme
- finely grated lemon zest to taste
- fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Have a deep roasting tin ready to go. Butter it well.
- Cream 2 ounces (1/4 cup/60g) butter together with the chopped herbs, lemon rind, salt, and papper. Spoon into the cavity of the chicken.
- Place the chicken, resting with one breast down, into the roasting tin. Spread the exposed surface of the chicken with the remaing butter and season lightly. Roast in the preheated oven for 20 minutes.
- Remove the chicken from the oven and flip it over to the other side, baste with the pan juices, return to the oven, and roast for a further 20 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and turn the chicken upright. Baste again. Return to the oven and roast for a further 20 minutes, for 60 minutes in total.
- Remove from the oven, let rest for 10 minutes. Spoon any juices from the cavity over top. Carve and serve.
- A delicious gravy can be made from the pan juices.
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com
Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
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These last six months have been huge trial for many of us. When the lockdown began, like many, I had no idea it would last as long as it has and it is ongoing.
Life suddenly got very narrow. I keep busy most days and so time has moved along quite swiftly for me. I've been crafting, cooking and organising!
I recently took on the task of organising my spices. I love to cook and I love putting flavour into foods.
As a consequence of that I have loads of spices and flavourings and I am ashamed to say, this is what they were looking like. (See photo below)
I tried to keep them semi-organised, but to be honest, every time I reached for something, especially something out of the ordinary, I was faced with an exercise in frustration!
I recently received these spice labels from Innoveem, which were a great impetus towards me getting organized. I fell in love with design and practicality of them. Here is a bit about them from the website:
- Other labels for spice jars often have small hard to read text on them. Our 38mm diameter spice jar labels are perfectly sized to fit on any round or square spice jars, with large BOLD clear and easy to read text. Which ultimately means you can always find the spice jar you are looking for.
- This full comprehensive range of herb and spice labels covers the most common herbs and spices used in the UK kitchen today. This consists of 60 colour coded easy to peel pre-printed herb & spice labels, as well as 12 BONUS blank labels so you can label any extra exotic spices or mixes you make yourself.
- Our durable adhesive small jar labels have awesome sticking power on Glass, Plastic, Wood and metal surfaces. The glue has excellent sticking performance so the label will not fall off, ensuring they will last a long time.
- Because our hard wearing labels for jars are waterproof you will be able to wash and wipe them clean without damaging them. This is great because your labels will continue to look as good as the day you put them on. Suitable for both lids or front of jars!
- Do these come with a money back guarantee? YES! Your purchase comes with a full 90-day no-risk, no-nonsense 100% money back guarantee. Either you are thrilled, or we don't want your money!
I have always been thoroughly impressed with all of the labels I have gotten that are from this company. Everything about them has been exemplary and above board. I was so impressed with the spice labels that I got started right away organizing everything.
My spice jars in the wall spice cabinets were replaced with matching jars of a single kind and I labeled them all accordingly.
Green edged labels for the soft herbs. Orange/brown edged labels for the spices. White edged labels for the seeds, etc.
Interestting mixtures and my own homemade mixtures got put into little pots and labeled with the blank spice labels. They were the perfect size for these little pots.
As you know I am a great lover of making my own spice combinations and rubs. You know exactly what goes into them and how old they are. I have a whole page of them here. This is a list that gets added to.
I also have a printable list which you can find here.
I got rid of my minging old stacking spice racks which I had gotten quite tired of and which were looking quite dated and tatty. I replaced them with a more modern looking turntable type of spice unit, and of course the spice labels fit perfectly on the ends of the jars.
Everything is now at my fingertips and easily identifiable. I am so, so, SOOOO pleased with the results!
Everything looks a bazillion times better. And to be honest I feel a bazillion times better. It is amazing at how a simple change such as this can breathe some extra joy and peace into your life!
If you are wanting to buy some of these spice labels for yourself, you can buy them on Amazon UK. They sell for £4.99 and I highly recommend them. With 72 labels altogether, they have all your bases covered!
I believe so much in the Inoveem labels, and I felt so bad about the Brownie giveway being limited to only UK residents, that I have decided to have a giveaway of my very own. I will be giving one of my readers, ANYWHERE in the world, no limitations as to location, a full set of the Innoveem labels.
That's a set of the Freezer labels, the Jam Jar Labels, the Jar Labels and these amazing Spice Labels. Four complete sets in all. All are welcome to enter. You can enter via the giveaway widget below. The giveaway will end in 7 days time. (September 11th, 2020)
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Good luck to one and all!
UPDATE - The giveaway is now finished.
Congratulations to Lynn Tondro Bisset who was the lucky winner! Thank you all for playing!
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