Cinnamon Swirl Banana Muffins

www.shropshirebreakfast.com

We're a bit of a fan of cinnamon here at Hopton House. My husband is particularly keen. Normally I can't tempt Jess & Rob with a fresh baked muffin in the morning, but they both make an exception for these.

This recipe takes the banana bread recipe and raises it to a different level. You can make it in a 1lb loaf tin to make a traditional banana bread. However it takes quite a long time to cook  ( 50-60 minutes at 160 degrees C non fan oven ) & needs to be completely cool before cutting. By cooking as muffins no cutting is required so they can be served warm from the oven and
only take about 20 mins to cook. They are also incredibly easy to do as it's one of the mixes where you just bung everything into the mixer. They also last quite well so can be cooked the day before.

Makes 6 muffins

Muffin Ingredients

50g softened butter ( or you could use 50ml vegetable oil )
90g soft brown sugar ( caster sugar will do )
1 tsp mixed spice
1 egg
1 ripe banana
110g self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp buttermilk ( you can happily substitute 1 tbsp milk or 1 natural yoghurt as who wants to open a whole buttermilk carton for 1 tbsp but it does create a fluffier result )

Cinnamon Swirl Mix
4 tbsp of white sugar
1 tbsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C ( or 180 degrees for a fan oven ). Put all of the muffin ingredients ( not the cinnamon swirl mix ingredients these are added separately ) into a mixing bowl and mix with an electric mixer on high for 2 minutes. Combine the white sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl.

Line a muffin tin with a 6 muffin cases. Put a tablespoon of muffin mix into the bottom of each case. Take a good heaped teaspoon of the cinnamon swirl mix then  sprinkle over the wet muffin mix. You're looking to have the mix completely covered with sugar & cinnamon. Then add the remaining wet muffin mix to the cases and finish off with another good teaspoon of the sugar & cinnamon.

Be careful not to overfill the cases - you only want them 3/4 full - they will rise quite a lot.

Bake for about 20 minutes till they're firm to touch. Just keep an eye on them to make sure they don't brown too much.

If you have any remaining sugar & cinnamon mix you can store it in a airtight jar for next time ( or sprinkle some on your porridge in the morning )