banana caramel muffins

When I was younger, I loved shopping with mum at the supermarket and discovering what new products were on offer. If there's one thing Mum and I share, it's that we both love trying new products and giving things a go. Though sometimes I have to admit, writing a list is probably the best way that the two of us shop; otherwise more often than not, we'll come home with a bagful of that day's specials rather than the things we actually need. And well after all these years, neither of us have really changed one bit!

A recent trip to Coles saw me come home with a bag of Nestle Caramel bits. They say they're new but I swear Nestle have sold and marketed these in the States for ages (as usual, it's taken Australia a little more time to catch on).

And it just happened to be that I had my copy of Nigella Express out and about that I found the recipe for Banana Butterscotch Muffins which was perfect to accommodate these caramel bits. I've rejigged the recipe a little to accommodate the ingredients I had at home. Preheat oven to 200 degrees and line 6 holes of a muffin tin. Mash together 2 bananas. In a jug, combine 70mL vegetable oil and 1 egg. Place 125g flour, 50g caster sugar, 1/4 tsp bicarb soda, 1/2 tsp baking powder in a large bowl. Add in the beaten egg and oil mixture followed by the mashed bananas. As Nigella would put it, fold in 75g caramel morsels and then bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

I made 6 out of this recipe; which works out perfect for the boy and I to chomp over for a few days. Found that when I bake a full dozen, we just don't get through them all.

It's a rather good looking muffin but unfortunately didn't keep so well in the fridge. The texture seemed to harden despite reheating in the microwave (which usually softens most muffins). 

The caramel bits actually weren't quite what I'd expected. In a way, I was expecting them to be a little bit sweeter and hold their shape a bit more. Biting in to them when the muffins were straight out of the oven, they were molten on the inside but didn't really have that caramel bite to them.  Good to see though that Nestle are releasing a few more baking goods to their portfolio; picked up a bag of mini dark chocolate melts which were also new so will no doubt have a little bit of fun with those!