Eggless Almonds Banana Chocolate-Chip Muffins / Eggless ABC Muffins

These days its raining cats and dogs here in Bangalore. And every time it rains, my mind starts playing kabbadi with my stomach, in short I have a carving almost every time it rains. And sometimes you do get bored of your favourite onion pakoda's and want some warm ooey-gooey cakes. So this time I decided to give the deep fried crispy's a miss and hot baked muffins a catch. So a healthy combo of the goodness of fruit and nut in a cake was what made the rains a memorably ''sweet'' experience. And the hide n seek of the dark chocolate chips balances the banana so well, that it just doesn't seem like a fruit cake. So, lets get baking with this moist, soft, gooey , sweet, nutty,chocolatey Eggless Almonds Banana Chocolate-Chip Muffins or lets call this the easy-peasy - Eggless ABC Muffins


Ingredients

• Banana – 1 (fully ripened)
• Milk – 1/2 Cup
• Vinegar – 1 Tsp
• Plain Flour / Maida – 1 Cup
• Sugar – 3/4 Cup
• Baking Soda – 1/2  Tsp
• Oil – 1/3 Cup
• Vanilla Essense - 1 Tsp
• Chocolate Chips – 1/4 Cup
• Almonds - 1/2 Cup, chopped (Frozen)

Method

Preheat the oven at 200 C for 10 minutes.

For the batter, start by mixing vinegar in the milk, give it a good whisk and keep this aside (this is the buttermilk we use in baking).

Mash a banana using a fork, then measure it. We require  half a cup of mashed banana.

In a mixing bowl, add in flour, fine/castor sugar, baking soda and mix it.

Add the mashed banana, vanilla essence and oil to the buttermilk (milk+vinegar) mixture and mix it well.

Dust the chocolate chips with flour, so that they don't sink to the bottom of the muffin tray.

To the dry ingredients mix, add in the chocolate chips and fold lightly and do not over mix it.

Then pour in the wet ingredients and mix it slowly and gently until everything is well combined.

Pour the batter in the Muffin tray/liners 3/4th the way .

Top with frozen almonds and  bake for 20-30 minutes. Check at 20 minutes with a toothpick, if its comes out clean, muffins are ready, if not, bake for a couple of more minutes .

Enjoy this warm, it tastes heavenly!

A Few Tips:

• Do not use regular homemade buttermilk(chaas) , as this is not the buttermilk we use in baking. In baking buttermilk means a mix of vinegar and room temperature milk mixed and kept aside, untouched for about 7-10 mins.

• Banana's are also used as an egg substitute, but it is only used in recipes which mostly include banana, as it has a strong flavour and fragrance which can be intimidating. 

• Also note, that the banana must be ripe for best results. 

• If you have too many banana's at home and they are turning brown, just put them in a zip-lock bag and deep freeze them and when ever you want to use them just let it thaw(come to room temperature) and use it for your muffins, milkshakes, ice creams etc.

• Chocolate chips can sink in the batter and settle at the bottom of the tin, so it is advisable to roll them well in plain flour and then use them. Or you may add them in intervals while you pour the batter.

• We do not use toasted almonds, as, while baking in high temperature, they might burn and taste bitter and of course spoil the muffins overall taste. We use frozen nuts as they toast in the heat produced by the oven.

• Always stock your dried fruits in the fridge, they never get spoilt.

Do try this and leave me a comment!