Across the street from my parents place in Canada, is an Italian deli & cafe. They have a great selection of foods, but one of their most popular is the Banana Macadamia Nut Muffin. So much so, my parents have been on at me to make something similar for ages. This is quite the big deal from them, as they have never asked me to bake something sweet. I do it anyway, but it is not something they seek out themselves. After repeated requests I finally bought the ingredients… and then things happened and they got put to the bottom of the box of nuts to be forgotten.

Fast forward a few short months and there is nothing like having to move everything you own to make you go through your cupboards and start emptying them out. For me this means using up the ingredients I bought for well intentioned recipes, that got filed under ‘nice to make one day’ over ‘need to feed the kids now’. Amazing how drastically things change when you throw in a few little people.

Having what I would call mediocre recipes for banana muffins, I was keen to search for some better ones and see what I could come up with. I was very happy to come across this recipe from Bon Appetit (1991) which seemed to be very popular. I had intended to  make it and see where it was doing well and where I could improve on it to make it my own. I was quite surprised when there was really not much more I could do to it. It really is a lovely recipe, and best left mostly untouched. I have had to tweak it a little for my own dairy issues, but I don’t think that would be an issue for most people.

I will definitely be adding this to my stash of muffin recipes. It also looks like I will be adding macadamia nuts to my shopping basket more often as well.

These are best enjoyed on the day, or the first day afterward. You can of course keep them longer in an airtight container or in the freezer, assuming you have any left.

Makes 1 dozen

• 285 g (1 1/2 cups) Plain Flour (I prefer to use strong bread flour for any recipes which originate in the US or Canada – as I find you get more similar results)
• 1 1/2 tsp Sodium Bicarbonate
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1/8 tsp Nutmeg
• 1 1/4 cup very ripe Bananas (approx. 3 over ripe bananas), mashed
• 110g (1/2 cup) Caster Sugar
•  50 g (1/4 cup) Dark Brown Sugar
• 125ml (1/2 cup) vegetable oil, coconut oil or melted butter
• 60 ml (1/4 cup) Almond mild, soya milk, milk or other milk alternative
• 1 large Egg
• 130g (1 cup) Macadamia Nuts, toasted and roughly chopped

Oven 175C / Fan 155C / 350F

Combine the flour with the sodium bicarbonate, salt and nutmeg in a bowl and mix well. In a separate bowl, mix the mashed banana together with the sugars, milk, oil and the egg. Gently fold the flour mixture into the wet ingredients. Then fold in the macadamia nuts, being careful not to over mix (this keeps the baked muffins light and fluffy). Divide the mixture into your muffin tin and place in the pre-heated oven for 25 mins, or until a skewer comes out clean and the top is nicely golden.

Allow to cool for a few minutes in their tin before removing to a wire rack.