Banoffee muffins: A light twist on a classic indulgence

If I was a betting person, I would have put money on banoffee pie being a wholly American invention. It seems to fit perfectly in that group of American cream pies with rich, sweet fillings topped with billowing whipped cream.

Although it clearly has its basis in the American style of pie, the banoffee pie was invented in England in the 1970s. It was an immediate hit and very quickly became a permanent fixture of many pub and restaurant menus.

It is easy to see why this over-the-top creation took off. Banoffee pie shouts indulgence from the rooftops. Unfortunately, there will be days when you crave banoffee pie but don’t have time for a two-hour siesta to digest it afterwards. On those days, the classic mixture of banana, toffee and cream works brilliantly in muffin form.

These banoffee muffins make a lovely dessert but feel a lot lighter than a slab of cream pie. The muffin mixture is very forgiving, so it is ideal for children to make. If the cream is added to the muffins in advance, they will need to be refrigerated. This will cause the muffins to dry out, so it is best to add the cream just before serving. If you do want to decorate the muffins a little ahead, tossing the banana slices in lemon juice will stop them browning too quickly. Any leftover caramel sauce is delicious drizzled over vanilla ice-cream.

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This recipe is in fact a pimped-up version of my 100-year-old grandma’s incredibly simple banana bread recipe. It’s guaranteed to make you feel very virtuous using up those pitiful brown bananas.

BANOFFEE MUFFINS

Makes nine

Ingredients

For the banana muffins:
4 over-ripe bananas
1 large egg
125g caster sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
100ml sunflower oil (or melted butter)
225g self-raising flour, sieved

For the caramel sauce:
397g tin sweetened condensed milk
75g caster sugar
100g butter
1 tbsp golden syrup

To serve:
75ml whipped cream
1 perfectly ripe banana, sliced (or banana chips)

Method
1 To make the caramel sauce: Gently melt the condensed milk, sugar, butter and golden syrup in a medium saucepan. Over a medium heat, stir continuously for 20 minutes until the sauce deepens to a caramel colour (from time to time, use a wooden spoon to scrape around the inside edges of the pan where the mixture might catch and burn). Set aside to cool.

2 For the banana muffins: Preheat your oven to 180 degrees fan, gas mark 4 or equivalent. Line a deep muffin tray with large paper muffin cases.

3 Peel the bananas and place them in a large mixing bowl. If their skins were very brown to begin with they will be soft enough to blend (but if their skins were only slightly mottled, then mash the bananas briefly with a fork to break them down somewhat). Use a whisk to mix together the bananas, egg, sugar and vanilla extract until fully combined.

4 Next, whisk in the sunflower oil.

5 Fold the sieved flour into the wet mixture, stirring until just combined, with no flour pockets remaining (if you bought a ripe banana to garnish the muffins, you might like to chop half of it up and fold it into the mixture).

6 Spoon the batter into the paper muffin cases, filling each muffin case to two-thirds full (if you use very large tulip-style muffin cases, you may only get six muffins).

7 Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until well risen with a golden brown crust on top. Once baked, a skewer inserted into the centre of a muffin should come out clean.

8 Remove the muffins from the tin and place on a wire rack to cool completely.

9 To serve as banoffee muffins: Whip the cream and slice the ripe yellow banana. Drizzle each muffin with caramel sauce. Pipe cream on to each muffin and add a slice of just -ut banana.

Variation: Add any filling that you like such as blueberries, nuts, chocolate or pear.