Plátano

A healthy loaf cake with a moist texture and a strong peanut butter flavor. Definitely not for everyone, but I'm crazy about it. These flavors are addictive for me and I can't really hold back. The good news is that the ingredients are healthy and, even though we can't really call it diet food — especially because of the peanut butter — we know it's a pretty moderate treat.

I got the recipe from @petit_fit's Instagram profile, but I tweaked it a little. Here's my version. Hope you like it.

Ingredients

• 3 ripe bananas
• 50 g (1.75 oz) honey
• 40 g (1.4 oz) extra virgin olive oil
• 50 ml (3.5 tbsp) milk
• 1 egg
• 4 tablespoons peanut butter
• 175 g (6 oz / about 1.75 cups) ground oats or oat flour
• 50 g (1.75 oz) pure unsweetened cocoa powder
• 5 g (1 tsp) baking powder (Royal-type)
• A pinch of salt
• A couple of squares of dark chocolate and some oat flakes (for topping)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (355°F).
2. Mash the bananas in a bowl with a fork and add the wet ingredients (honey, milk, oil and the lightly beaten egg).
3. Stir until everything comes together.
4. Add the dry ingredients (oats, cocoa, salt and baking powder) and mix well.
5. Grab a loaf pan (plumcake-style) and grease it with a bit of oil.
6. Pour half of the batter into the pan and drop two tablespoons of peanut butter on top. Then, using a knife, swirl the peanut butter into the batter to get a kind of marbled effect.
7. Add the other half of the reserved batter and another two tablespoons of peanut butter. Repeat the marbling process.
8. Finally, chop the chocolate into chunks and scatter them on top along with a few oat flakes.
9. Bake for about 45-50 minutes and it's ready to enjoy (technically you should wait for it to cool… I never can).

PiC Tips

• Try to use peanut butter that's 100% peanuts, with no added sugar, salt or weird stuff, because it doesn't need any of that. It's pretty easy to find this kind these days at Mercadona, Ahorramás or sports/nutrition supplement shops.
• Same goes for the cocoa. It's really easy to find pure 100% cocoa (I usually use Mercadona's store brand). Don't be fooled by advertising for "intense" cocoas because they tend to contain added sugars, sweeteners or even some kind of flour as a thickener.
• If you don't have oat flour but do have oat flakes, you can blitz them in a food processor or Thermomix. You can choose how fine you want them. In my case, I used roughly ground oats.
• As always, you can swap the honey for another sweetener of your choice, or for dates that have been soaked and blended into a paste. Also keep in mind that the riper the bananas, the more sweetness they'll add.

Today we’re bringing you a muffin recipe. Muffins are similar to Spanish magdalenas but, unlike those, they usually use butter instead of oil and the batter isn’t as smooth (you just mix the ingredients without having to beat them). Also, muffins can be either sweet or savory and they take a wide variety of “chunks” inside (chocolate chips, dried fruit, nuts, etc.). Don’t confuse them with the famous cupcakes that are so trendy these days, which are always sweet and decorated with buttercream or some other kind of frosting.

What do we need?

• 230 g (1¾ cups) all-purpose flour

• 150 g (¾ cup) sugar

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

• 2 eggs

• 110 g (½ cup) butter (room temperature)

• 3 ripe bananas

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

How do we make it?

• Preheat the oven to 180°C (355°F).

• In a bowl, combine all the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon).

• In another bowl, mash the bananas with a fork until you get a purée. Add the lightly beaten eggs, the softened butter and the vanilla. Mix well.

• Fold the banana mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Using a spatula, mix until the ingredients are just combined, but don’t overmix. The batter will be a bit thick and lumpy.

• Divide the batter into muffin molds, filling each one about 3/4 of the way since they’ll rise. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out completely clean.

Tips:

• You can add walnuts or chocolate chips to this recipe by mixing them in with the dry ingredients.

• The riper the bananas, the better. You can even use those ones that have gone ugly and a bit brown.

• Even if you use paper liners, I recommend placing them in a metal muffin pan. Otherwise, the paper liners might not hold the weight and the batter will spill out.

  [English version] BANANA MUFFINS* Ingredients:-*

• 230 g all-purpose flour

• 150 g granulated sugar

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

• 2 eggs

• 110 g butter (soften)

• 3 ripe bananas

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

• Preheat oven to 180ºC.

• Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl (flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon).

• In a different bowl, mash the bananas with a fork. Add lightly beaten eggs, soften butter and vanilla. Mix well.

• With a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, lightly fold he wet ingredients (banana mixture) into the dry ingredients just until combined and the batter is thick and chunky. The important thing is not to over mix the batter. You do not want it smooth.

• Bake about 20 -25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Tips:

- You can add nuts or chocolate chips when combining the dry ingredients. - The riper bananas the better. You can use even those ones that have turned brown. - When using paper liners, use a muffin pan too. Otherwise paper liners might not be strong enough to hold the butter and the muffin shape will be ruined.