Choco Banana muffins - easiest and most delicious muffins, new post after many moons

Yep, no talking about where I have been, what I have been doing, how glorious  my summer was, and the current weather now that it has turned into colorful autumn, and yada, yada, yada... Today it is all about cutting to the chase directly. Some day, when I am able to sit down, relax and write a mile long story, I will share all the good, bad & ugly of the missing months if you are interested. Life has been busy and full and I am not able to spend the time I would like to with my blog baby. I came back from the hiding due to the overwhelming response to my muffin picture on FB last week and all the requests I received to share the recipe. I sincerely think these super delicious muffins will make up atleast in part for all the unaccounted absence. And if you haven't heard, chocolate makes everything better :-) And yes, baking happened in the Sattvaa kitchen after many moons too..

A banana muffin is good and tasty but a choco-banana muffin is better and soul satisfying. If you haven't had one, I implore you to try this at your earliest.  This is such an easy recipe that delivers the softest, most moist and delicious muffins every time (and I should know as I baked 2 batches in a week). So DD was home a week ago for a short weekend and while I cooked stuff for her to carry, I also baked these muffins for her and her group of hungry friends. I had forgotten the blissful feeling that baking awakens in me until the aroma from the banana started to waft through the kitchen. The gooey chocolate, soft & moist muffins that came out of the oven just 12 mins after they went in were some of the best muffins that I have tasted ever.

As DD packed the entire batch to take with her, I decided to bake another batch just 2 days later so I could take some to work for my coworkers. The entire box of about 20 muffins was gone by the end of the day.

This recipe is tweaked from Nigella Lawson's original recipe. I skipped the eggs, used coconut oil in place of vegetable oil and added chocolate chips additionally. The texture is super light and moist. I don't like the taste of very ripe bananas personally, I use them up when they are just soft. These impart the best flavor in breads and muffins. When I posted the teaser picture on FB last week, one of the readers asked me about the variety of the bananas, I only use the the chiquita bananas as they are easily and widely available here, these are very similar to the variety called pacha bale hannu in kannada which have a green skin when unripe that turns a golden yellow and starts to develop black spots as the fruit ripens. You can use other ripe bananas as long as they are soft. As the size varies with the variety I have specified the quantity of the mashed banana in cups as well, hope this helps. The recipe below is for about 18 good size muffins but I also made them slightly smaller (for my health conscious yet sweet toothed colleagues) and got 24 muffins.

Feel free to add nuts of choice to make it more nutritious.

PS: Thanks for all the support, just when I think that nobody really misses me if I didn't blog, you guys pour your love and ask me for a recipe or leave a comment to say how you liked one of my recipes. Your love & support makes me come back even after an awkward gap on the blog :-). I will see you again with another delicious recipe as soon as I am able to.

PPS: I have another work related travel coming up next week and will be missing Deepavali at home. Here is an early Deepavali wish to all of you celebrating the festival of lights, may the festival usher in good times where people treat each other with love and respect. May Deepavali bring in the light to fill in every life with hope, joy and prosperity. 

What do you need to make the muffins? 
Recipe source: Nigella Lawson
4 ripe bananas (4 cups of mashed banana)
4 Tbsp coconut oil
1/2 cup brown sugar (reduce it if your bananas are sweet)
1.5 cup AP flour
1 Tbsp vanilla essence
3 Tbsp cocoa powder
3/4 cup unsweetened chocolate chips
1 Tsp baking soda

How do you make muffins? 

• Peel, and mash bananas using a potato masher or with clean hands so there are no pieces left

• In a microwave safe bowl put 1/2 cup of chocolate chips and microwave it for about 2 mins taking it out every 30 seconds to stir.
• Once the chocolates melt, add the coconut oil and mix it in. I use virgin coconut oil and it always stays solid at room temperature, so heating it helps it to become liquid. 

• In a large mixing bowl, take the mashed banana, add melted chocolate+coconut oil, vanilla and mix it well with a whisk. 
• Sift AP flour, cocoa powder & baking powder using a fine sieve into the mixing bowl, this helps distribute baking soda into the batter and not form bitter, untasty lumps. 

• Once the flour is added, mix it all in gently together. Add the remaining chocolate chips to the batter. 
• Line your muffin trays with liners and spoon in a big tbsp+half into each liner. 

• Preheat the oven to 400F and bake for 12minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffin comes out clean. 
• These are best had warm out of the oven but they stay good for couple of days and can be reheated. 

Notes: 

• I used coconut oil as I was out of vegetable oil but liked the texture and the flavor.
• Use good quality chocolate, I sneaked in 2 squares of Ghirardelli dark chocolates and I honestly believe the quality of chocolate makes a difference.

Rye bread (baking after a long gap) - creating an herb loaded artisan bread the no knead, no mess way

The recipe is right on the box, but when you cook a recipe with passion, you elevate even a box recipe - chef Jacques from 32 Yolks

I went back to baking after a long hiatus. As some of you may have noticed, my baking recipes have almost dwindled in frequency lately as I haven't baked much. It feels like an extravaganza to bake just for the two of us while DD is away at school (yep, I go through those mom guilt trips) also logistically it doesn't make sense to bake a big batch of something while neither BH nor I will be able to finish it before it goes bad. When DD was home, either she would devour it or have friends over to share. And then we also went through a phase of consciously reducing the amount of flours in every day food, so bread was the first one to feel the pain of the axe :-).

I bought Rye flour in the local grocery store a few months back after eating a byte of the hearty, slightly dense textured store bought rye bread as part of a potluck dinner. The intention to bake a rye bread at home was urgent and genuine but the universe conspired against it from becoming a reality sooner. New year rolled in, on one of my regular 'clean the pantry' efforts, I found the desolate box of rye flour in the dark corner of my pantry completely forgotten and uncared for. Now that cannot be good at all, right? I honestly believe any ingredient that I purchase has potential to turn into something delicious and soul satisfying even if it is the forgotten rye flour. So out came the box and as I went into my deep, meditative thoughts about how to use the rye flour I kept turning the flour package in my hand which is how I ended up seeing the recipe for a traditional rye bread right there on the package cover :-) (That wasn't a surprise, was it? all flour packages logically have a recipe for a bread and a cookie atleast. I was just trying to build a story up:-))

The recipe had the usual suspects, part rye, part bread flour, yeast, a little salt & sugar to activate yeast and ofcourse water. The only deterrent was the step that said, knead vigorously for 10mins with a push and pull method to help develop gluten strands in the dough. Any bread baker worth her (or his) salt is familiar with the kneading process. Somehow that step about kneading didn't sound appealing at all. Lately with the weather being cold and wet, I am not feeling like dealing with wet things for long duration in the kitchen and was in no mood to stand and knead the dough for 10mins. I know I have said before that kneading bread dough is therapeutic but it doesn't feel like it just right now, not yet. May be once the weather warms up a bit, I will be my normal self rearing to go and build my biceps and triceps in the name of kneading bread dough. So, my very smart (and completely lazy) brain was directing me to find a short cut and avoid if possible the part about the kneading. And the smart brain also knew that I had to bake the bread that day otherwise the flour would return back to its desolate corner or vanish into oblivion all together (read as 'end up in the compost bin' because I overlooked the expiry date).

I have baked "no knead" breads before and like the concept of letting the dough slow....ly develop flavors and rise on its own accord with time instead of trying to speed up the process with the kneading. So off I went to search for a no knead rye bread recipe and stumbled on this video here. After trying this recipe out, (see my slow rise pita bread if interested) I am convinced that a naturally ripened bread dough yields a better tasting bread than a 'on a yeast boost' and artificially prepared dough to get the bread into the oven quickly. Simply put, I love the slow rise bread and the fact that there is no kneading involved was a nice bonus on top :-). Slow rise dough also gives the bread a crusty outer later with a wonderful texture on the inside. If you are still not convinced, think one single vessel to wash when this is all done and absolutely no messy counter top to clean up, ah I can see you rushing to your kitchen right this moment to bake a delicious no-knead bread :-), wait, you haven't read my recipe yet.. you are almost there if you have come this far (psst, feel free to skip the next paragraph as it is mainly collected facts about health benefits of rye, the main source being guru google which you can do on your own and at your own convenience :-))

I went back and forth on writing about the health benefits of rye. Given that I am not a nutritionist or even someone that has diligently studied nutrition out of curiosity, my knowledge comes from the all pervading internet just like for most of you. While the free information overload can be overwhelming, my motto is to stay within reasonable limits, eat everything that your body doesn't seem to reject outright and do the physical activity that it takes to digest and use the nutrients well. With that astounding wisdom, I will only point out a few facts about Rye without any personal recommendation to include it in your diet, it is up to you. Rye is a type of grass, at a very broad level belongs to the wheat family. Usually it is unpolished as it is not easy to separate the germ and the bran and hence retains a lot more nutrients than polished wheat. It is a whole grain and is known to help many conditions including diabetes. It does have gluten though much lower than that found in wheat. If you are looking for a lighter, airier bread you need to add wheat flour/bread flour to compensate the gluten deficiency. If you like the hearty flavor of rye and do not mind the denser texture, use all rye in your dough.

Rye breads traditionally use caraway seeds to infuse a distinct aroma. Caraway seeds also known as meridian fennel are one of those ingredients that impart a distinct flavor to the dish. Caraway is also a carminative herb that prevents bloating. I don't have it in my pantry and was not going to hunt for it in my stores for what I thought would be a one time fancy baking. So I used the regular fennel seeds (saunf in hindi) instead. But, added a whole bunch of chopped fresh dill to add that delicious aroma into the bread. You can skip fennel, add just fresh dill or chopped onions or crushed ajwain or shah jeera(black cumin) or regular cumin. Imagine the best flavor that you would like to see your bread infused with and go with that ingredient, nothing stops you from being imaginative in the kitchen.

The recipe uses a scoop and shake method as he says clearly in the video. No weighing of ingredients on this one. So, watch the amount of water you add as you might scoop more, shake less or the other way around and may need a little bit more or less water than prescribed below. My scoops seem to be lighter (or the shakes more vigorous) that I have only used 12Oz water on both attempts that I have made this recipe. See the picture of dough to understand the consistency you are looking for before letting it stay on to raise on its own.

What do you need to make rye bread?
Source: ArtisanbreadwithStev

1 cup rye flour + a tbsp for shaping
2 cups bread flour

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp salt 

1/4 tsp instant yeast (bread machine yeast)

2 Tbsp caraway seeds (I didn't have, replaced it with fennel seeds)

1 Tbsp olive oil

12-13 Oz water

1 packed cup chopped fresh dill

How do you make rye bread? 

• Take a wide bowl (make sure it has space to let the dough rise). 
• Add the dry flours, sugar, salt and yeast into the bowl. 
• With a spoon or back of a ladle (I used a colorful wooden chop stick that I have not yet used for noodles :-)) and mix all the ingredients well so they are uniformly incorporated. 

• Add the seeds if you are using at this time and mix them in. 
• Add the olive oil and start with 11oz of water. Stirring the contents with your spoon, bring them together and add the remaining water slowly to make a slightly wet and loose dough. The amount of water depends on the variety of flour and also the accuracy of your scoop and shake :-)

• With the weather being cold, I left the mixed dough outside on the counter top for close to 35hours before taking it for the 2nd rise. 
• Cover and let it rest for atleast 18-20hours but upto 40hours.
• This dough will not double in size but looks stringy and elastic when you take it out after the rising period. 

• Spread a tbsp of flour on a working surface, turn the dough on to it, add the finely chopped dill leaves if using and fold the dough a couple of times to incorporate the leaves homogeneously.

• Shape the dough to suit your baking pan. 
• Take a second similar shaped pan, put a parchment paper on it and lightly grease it with a spray cooking oil. Set the dough on it, cover with a cling wrap and let it rest for another 45mins to an hour.

• Preheat oven to 450F along with the baking pan you will bake the bread in. 
• Once the second rise has taken about an hour, open the oven and get the heated baking pan outside (USE GLOVES AND BE CAREFUL HANDLING HOT UTENSILS PLEASE). 
• Lift the parchment paper along with the shaped bread, drop it into the hot baking pan, score it a couple of places to open it up while backing. 
• Cover it with the lid and return it quickly to the oven. 
• Bake the bread for 25mins with the lid on. 
• Remove the lid and let it bake for 2-3 mins to get a golden crust. 

• Take the bread out and let it cool slightly on a wire rack before slicing. Enjoy the warm, crusty slices or let it cool completely and turn them into a sandwich of choice. 

Baking pan tips: 

• Rye bread bakes at a high temperature of 450F, choose a baking pan that can withstand the preheating and the baking periods. 
• The shape of the pan is only a personal preference. 
• I used my dutch oven to bake the bread which took most (little more than 3/4 of the dough) to make a big one and used a smaller clay container to bake a tiny bread :-). It was just cuteness that I couldn't resist.
• Use a pan that has a lid so the moisture is captured inside while baking. 

Notes:

• Don't be afraid to play around with the proportion of rye and bread flour until you reach your preference for taste and texture of the bread. 
• Replace half the quantity of water with room temperature milk to make the bread softer. 
• If you are in a hot climate, leave the dough outside for about 30mins once you mix it in, cover and refrigerate for anywhere between 24-48 hours before starting to bake. 
• It is important to completely mix the dry ingredients first before starting to add oil and water. There is no kneading and hence yeast doesn't spread evenly if you do not mix the dry ingredients well. 

• It is important to pre heat the baking pan before transferring the shaped dough into it. 
• Alternatives to caraway seeds - fennel/saunf seeds, shahi jeera/black cumin, crushed cumin, ajwain seeds or kalonji/nigella seeds.
• I like to lightly dry roast the seeds if using, cool and crush them before adding to the flour to get a more pronounced aroma of the herbs. 
• I have made the bread with a 1/2 cup of sauteed onions added along with fresh dill as well and the crunch from onions makes this bread so much more delicious. 

Kugelhopf (Gugelhupf) - eggless but deliciously flaky bread

How do you catch a cloud and pin it down? 

How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand? 

How do you solve a problem like Maria? 

....

How many of you sit up at the sound (or music) of those words and start to hum along, sing along? One of my favorite movies of all time (I can watch it over and over and over again) - Sound of Music, a true life story of WW times made immortal by Julie Andrews & Christopher Plummer on the big screen. When a total misfit at the convent but very sincere in her ways, music loving Maria comes in to the house of strict, disciplinarian widower with 7 children as a governess, things cannot go well at the beginning with the children refusing to allow any governess to stick around. It is such a beautiful story of love, laughter and music even in the morbid and fearful times of war and uncertainty.

I first read an abridged version of the book when I was in grade school, it was my older brother's 'non-detail (another term for fiction)' book in high school and had always wanted to watch the movie. When I came to study in a convent for the high school years, if there ever was a movie that the nuns would approve of, it was this one :-), though I didn't get a chance to see the movie then, I watched several runs of the adapted school play during the 3 years. The first Christmas season here, strolling the festive looking aisles of the stores, I saw the VHS (video cassettes) displayed prominently (classics always make a come back during the holiday season here, perfect for a gift :-)). With a 2 year old tugging at my knees, although splurging money on movies was not a common thing at the time, I made an exception and indulged myself to buying the cassette. We enjoyed the movie so much and after years of rewind and reruns, it gave up on us and a couple years back, BH bought me a blue ray version of the same :-). Love lives on..

What has Sound of Music got to do with today's recipe? Does it even have anything to do with it at all? Well, if you give me a chance, I will connect the two together :-). In addition to the story, I also fell in love with the beautiful and seemingly endless, snow clad mountains of the little country Austria. If you look up the history of Kugelhopf, it tells you clearly that it is a bread popular in Germany, France, Austria, Hungary, Craotia and Serbia but I chose to conveniently ignore all other countries except for Austria on this recipe :-), sounds totally partial but I am a die hard romantic and also I think Austria clinches ownership of this deliciously buttery, flaky bread because of the following trivia - Gugelhupf was the sweet chosen to represent Austria in the Cafe Europe initiative of the Austrian presidency of the European Union, on Europe Day in 2006. Maybe Maria and the Von Trapp family ate this bread every day with coffee (or was it tea?)..

So now shall we get back to today's recipe? Oh, I guess I was the one running wayward, so let me get myself back here. This recipe came to me as part of the monthly challenges from Eggless baking group. Though I haven't been regular (sorry Gayathri) but trying to bake & post as much as I can given the hectic life right now. As soon as I saw this recipe (I swear that was before I knew the history and its connection to Austria and to Sound of Music :-)), I thought I would make it, for one the amount of butter didn't sound as big as the Austrian mountains and the procedure seemed really simple.

This is an almost 'no-knead' bread, I say almost because you don't plunk the dough on the counter top and start using that familiar back & forth sway motion exercising your biceps. Instead you use a spatula to move the dough around and bring it to a softer, pliable consistency. What I didn't sign up for though was starting off with a hard mass of dough and making it move around in the bowl. It being a Saturday, totally worked in my favor. BH was up after a good night's sleep and was game for helping me out, we took turns turning the dough (he did it for 3 mins and I took the next 30 secs, then back to him and so on.., you get the picture :-)) and as always great team work produces great results.

Bottom line, get the spouse to help you around when making this bread, save yourselves a sore arm later in the day :-).

I used the measurements Gayathri gave but added a few things to make it bit more livelier. I did the conversions from the gms to cups since I do not own a kitchen scale and was a little apprehensive that my measurements may not have been accurate but they were on the mark. The bread is mildly sweet, deliciously flaky with a super texture. I served it with a spoon of orange marmalade on the side as an after dinner dessert for cousins visiting us yesterday. Our little 1 year old niece seemed to enjoy it as did her parents and brother :-).

What do you need to make Kugelhopf? 
3 & 1/3 cups All purpose flour
2 & 1/4 Tsp instant (rapid rise) yeast
1/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup + 1 Tbsp milk
2/3 cup butter milk
7 Tbsp butter (softened to room temperature)
1/2 Tsp salt
1 Tbsp raisins
1/4 Tsp cinnamon powder

How do you make Kugelhopf? 

• Add flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl. 

• With a spoon or fork mix well and make a hole in the center. 
• Add milk & butter milk into the hole and gently fold in the flour mixture. 

• You will get a lightly moist, crumbly mixture.
• Add the softened butter and mix everything together. 
• The dough will be a stiff lump at this stage. 

• Keep moving/mixing the dough with a spatula for 5-7 minutes until the texture softens. 
• Add cinnamon powder and raisins and give a mix. 

• Smear soft butter to the inner side of a tube or bundt cake pan. 
• Put the soft dough in it and level gently. 

• Cover it with a cling wrap and let it rise for 45mins to an hour or until it doubles in volume and looks light and poofy. 

• Preheat the oven to 375F, bake the bread for 30-35 minutes (mine took 35min to reach the golden brown all around)
• Take it out and let it stand on a wire rack for 5 mins before removing it from the pan. 

• Let it cool completely before slicing. 
• Enjoy it with a drizzle of honey or butter or a jam.  

 Notes: 

• Original recipe didn't have cinnamon or raisins, it is my addition. Feel free to skip, however they enrich the bread
• I added 1 Tbsp additional milk since the dough seemed very hard when I started to move it with the spatula initially. This could have been due to the consistency of my yogurt as I didn't thin it down rather used the home made yogurt by just whisking it with a fork. 
• Watch the oven towards the end of the bake time as oven temperatures differ. 

Nuttery Buttery brownies - no eggs in this otherwise rich version

I have tried to stay away from the numerous groups of foodies online trying to cook to a theme, creating a dish out of special ingredient or cooking statewise food and many such wonderful experiments only because of time constraints. Not that I don't cook anymore but I just am not sitting down regularly to blog about it. Life seems to be on the fast track with no brakes, but the journey is what matters and I am having a blast. Will be more regular at blogging in a few months :-)

Having said that, I couldn't resist Gayathri's Eggless baking challenges which she re-opened up a month or so ago. I have seen her decadent baked goodies and have been in awe of how she figures out a perfectly eggless recipe for an otherwise much known eggy recipe. My baking love is extensively with breads as the process of mixing and kneading the dough to perfection relaxes me but I shy away from the more decadent, richer, sweet baked goods except on occasions as I don't normally use a lot of fat in my daily cooking nor are we as a family very fond of baked sweets. But then there is an exception for everything and a time for making exceptions, right?

I signed up with eggless baking group last month but didn't find the time nor the overwhelming desire to make the recipe as it seemed too rich, then the month rolled on, a new recipe was given to the group and not only did it look delicious but also seemed doable to me. And then the weekend happened, I had folks to share the richness with, so ventured in and made this eggless, dark chocolate, nut laden brownie today and can declare it as a successful bake. I blindly followed Gayatrhri's suggested egg replacements barring a minor change, result is a keeper brownie that is on the cake-y side.

And there was an occasion to bake this brownie too. BH & DD had been out of town travelling south from home for the last 4 days and then when they came back, BH got a couple of shot glasses (did I ever tell you, I collect shot glasses? just something I love to pick up from places we visit as a memento) and also got a dark chocolate guitar (totally edible), a super cutesy thing (DD said 'eeww' in a loud voice when she saw it and declared we were the weirdest set of parents one could have :-)) which I don't have the heart to break and consume. So it is all wrapped up pretty and sitting primly in the refrigerator. But as he handed me that guitar, I had the urge to make this brownie and take a picture with it so I could share on the blog (once a blogger, always a blogger and a foodie sees food in everything).

Reason #2, the recipe called for dark chocolate and I had this bag of superlicious Ghirardelli chocolates in the refrigerator that I had picked up sometime in December when I saw them during the holiday season and couldn't resist. I had no idea what I would make with them but since Ghirardelli is one of my favorite chocolates, I thought I would make good use of them some day.

So, with all the ingredients at hand, and Gayathri's accurate egg replacements, I whipped a batch of the brownies in under an hour (baking takes 35mins while prep takes about 10mins) and I was khush, so were everyone that ate it. I have a few packed up to take to work tomorrow.

I used regular home made yogurt instead of sour cream but kept all liquid to flour proportions same as the original recipe. This cakey brownie didn't miss eggs at all and it is a rich treat for any occasion. I would personally reduce the sugar to 3/4 cup next time as I like it a little less sweet. Other than that, this is a keeper.

Engage your spouse to be a helper in the kitchen but watch all the spoons and whisk if he is a chocolate lover like mine as they get licked off clean without any need for washing :-), the batter is delicious!

What do you need to make eggless brownies? 
1+1/4 cup all purpose flour/maida
1/2 cup or 1 stick (US measure) butter
1 cup good quality baking dark chocolate chips
3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup yogurt
1/4 cup milk
2 Tsp vanilla essence
1/2 Tsp baking soda
1/2 Tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped mixed nuts (I used slivered almonds, pine nuts and pecans)

How do you make brownies? 

• Preheat oven to 350F, line an 8 inch cake pan with a parchment paper.
• Put butter & chocolate chips in a glass bowl, microwave for 1-1.5 minutes until they melt in. 

• Stop at 1min and give it a mix. 
• Add vanilla essence and cocoa powder and mix in until homogeneous. 

• Sieve the flour, salt & baking soda together and keep aside. 
• In a large bowl, take yogurt, milk and sugar and whisk until they blend in (1-2 mins with a hand held whisk)
• Add the melted butter, chocolate mixture and give a good mix. 
• Add the flour mixture little by little and mix it in well without any lumps or dry powder. 

• Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and smoothen the top surface. 
• Sprinkle chopped nuts generously on top and bake for 30-35 minutes. 

• The center of my brownie collapsed a little but was cooked completely. 
• Take it out as soon as a tooth pick pushed in the middle comes out without a gooey sticking batter. 
• As it cools, the brownie becomes a little more solid. 

• Cut into shapes and serve. 

Notes: 

• This is a cake like brownie and not fudgy. 
• Do not wait for the tooth pick to be clean completely before taking out of the oven or it becomes very crumbly. 

Linking this to Gayathri's Fun with Egg Free Baking event