Hi,
I am aware that most of you have baked at least one cake or loaf of sourdough bread these past months, but allow me to tell you about the banana muffins I baked incessantly for a month.
I’m not into Instagram stories, but sometimes I’d idly click on my friends’ profile pictures and check what they’re up to. As faith would have it, I opened my friend Anna Claudia’s story on the day she posted a photo of some extraordinarily beautiful and lush banana muffins she had baked. I messaged her asking for the recipe and she directed me to the Instagram account responsible for that and, as I would later find out, many more miraculous culinary creations. The following day, I decided to try my hand at the new recipe and, lo and behold, the muffins turned out spectacularly tasty and moist, even yummier than I had anticipated. Taking yet another delicious bite, I thanked my lucky stars for letting me stumble upon my friend’s photo.
The muffins are extremely easy to make, only need few basic ingredients, and take approximately 20 minutes to mix plus about 20 mins to cook. (I love cooking, but I would fiercely argue against any recipe that takes longer than 30 minutes to prepare.) See, this recipe appeared at exactly the right time. The whole month of April proved a little rough —clearly an understatement. I caught myself searching for comfort throughout the long days more often than usual. While I would normally turn to books, films, even long walks, my attention wavered and I could not leave the house. All I needed was a break, a holiday (as I’ve gotten into the habit of calling it) away from problems and recurring thoughts, so I would bake the muffins, brew my favourite green chai and sit with myself for about ten minutes, focusing on each tasty morsel, the joy of small quotidian rituals.
Banana Muffins by Cotto Al Dente
INGREDIENTS:
2 ripe bananas
2 egg whites
35g peanut butter
60g erythritol*
120g oat flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
20g dark chocolate
1 tbsp lemon juice
10g dark chocolate for coating
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat your oven to 170°C. Line a muffin tin with paper liners. In a mixing bowl, mash the bananas with a fork until smooth. Mix in the egg whites and the peanut butter. Add the oat flour, the erythritol, the baking soda and the lemon juice. Chop the dark chocolate into small-sized bits and stir them into the mix. Pour the batter into the muffin tin and sprinkle each muffin with the remaining bits of dark chocolate. Bake for 22-25 minutes and let cool completely before serving.
*Erythritol is a low-calorie sweetener. It is an excellent alternative to sugar, especially for diabetic people as it does not raise blood sugar levels. If you don’t have it at home or cannot find it at the store, use sugar instead. Also, I would only use 40g of erythritol (or sugar) as ripe bananas can be very sweet.
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