Pour some sugar on it..

Firstly, if you immediately started singing the song I was trying to reference with the title of this post... I love you!!

Besides me not being able to take a straight photograph, nothing can detract from how pretty these little mounds of sugar coated yummynesses are and better still, they are as tasty on the inside as they are adorable on the outside because they're not just regular old muffins.... They are soft and fluffy banana muffins elevated to something very special and good enough to serve with even the fanciest tea, in fact I have made them in mini, pop the whole thing in your gob, sized cuties for an afternoon tea along with some very sophisticated treats and these were the talk of the tea!

No we all know I don't shy away from dishes with long and/or intricate processes with lists & lists of ingredients but if I can get away with something quick and easy to prepare and keep great flavour and texture you know I'm making it! I regularly make these and get the same result every single time!

Before I get to the recipe, let me get a bit nostalgic.. Although I have 8 regular round muffin tins, this muffin tin is one of two I bought not long after we moved into our home almost 35 years ago. I honestly cannot even begin to count how many muffins and cupcakes and mini cinnamon buns and countless other concoctions these have helped me bake (and no, they are not dirty, the brown stuff is age and the white stuff is the non-stick prep for the muffins). While I was growing up and my mom said 'be careful with that, it as a wedding present' (or something to that effect) I rolled my eyes and wondered why anyone would want to keep things for such a long time.... Well now I know!! and I'm even worse than she was!! But my stuff's my stuff you know, we've come a long way. From not being able to slice bread or boil an egg, through all the flops and triumphs and hours upon hours of hard graft over the years all my kitchen thingies have helped nurture my absolute inloveness with all things cooking.

So back to the subject... Banana muffins.

Some banana bread recipes are quite dense because of all the banana in it and that's a wonderful thing in it's own right but sometimes I want banana flavour but with a more cake like texture and this is where these bundles of joy come into play. They have more than enough banana flavour but are light and fluffy. This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled if you want to freeze some, it's actually a good idea because they freeze well and come back to room temp in a few minutes, now don't be tempted to defrost your baked goods in the microwave because the chances of turning them into golf balls are very good (more likely guaranteed). Just leave them in their covering, at room temp, and before you can say 'I want cake' they will be as soft as the day you baked them. But be aware that these cuties must be frozen without the sugar coating.

Here's how I go about making them;

Get all the ingredients ready

But I have to show you how weird the oil/eggs/vanilla look

You don't need an electric mixer, just a whisk. I bought this silicone whisk ages ago and it's great for a recipe like this because the edges double up as scrapers for the side of the bowl.

You mix the wet then add the dry until just combined... easy peasy

Scoop into the prepare tin and bake. Take care not to overbake the muffins.

While the muffins are baking prepare the butter & sugar station. I always cling the work surface when I bake and ice because the mess is contained and clean-up a breeze.

I buy big ass rolls of cling and tin foil.

I do the butter sugar business as soon as the come out of the oven because my right hand is a real chef hand and can take a lot of heat but you can allow then to cool down a bit. First you paint with butter then roll in the cinnamon sugar and end up with a sugar claw!

At this stage someone should be busy making coffee and/or tea because these babes are ready to devour but if you can stand it, leave them for and hour or so and the butter/sugar combo would've made a sweet crust around the soft muffin and that combination is just fantastic!!

All in all, from getting the ingredients ready to coating the last muffin with the cinnamon sugar takes no longer than 40 - 45 minutes tops.

Here's the recipe

Cinnamon sugar coated Banana muffins

(makes 12)

Ingredients

2/3 cup white sugar

1/2 cup sunflower/canola oil

2 large eggs

2/3 cup mashed banana (2 medium bananas)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 + 2/3 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Cinnamon & sugar topping:

70g butter, melted

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Method

Pre-Heat oven to 180°C.

Butter and flour a 12 hole muffin tin.

In bowl combine the sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla, stir with wire whisk.

Add in bananas and whisk until combined.

Add in flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon and stir together until just combined. (don't over mix)

Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.

Bake 18 to 21 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean and muffins are high and rounded on top. I start checking at 17 minutes taking care not to over bake.

Remove muffins from pan to a cooling rack. (I leave them in the tin because the stay warm longer but if you've over baked them take them out as soon as they come out of the oven)

For the cinnamon & sugar topping :

Combine the sugars and cinnamon in a medium sized bowl.

Put melted butter in a separate small bowl.

Paint the muffins with the melted butter and roll in cinnamon sugar to give a generous coating.

Serve warm or at room temp.