Chai Spiced Banana Muffins and The Vegan Cook book review

My favorite all time fruit is banana but I am rather fussy as to how I like like my bananas. I like to eat them when they are just yellow as soon as they go a darker yellow and brown spots appear I don't like them. That is when they are perfect to add to smoothies and for baking.

My second favorite thing is spices and I love masala chai spice, you can read all about my masala chai spice post here which shows you my love for this awesome fragrant tea spice. So when I was reading The Vegan Cookbook by Adele McConnell, I was really excited to see a recipe for Chai Spiced Banana Muffins. I did not need too much persuasion to recreate the recipe.

The Vegan Cookbook  has 100  recipe for breakfast, lunch and dinner together with some love sweet treats and desserts. The book is beautifully illustrated and has inviting food photos.I really like the fact that the author has added symbols to the recipes to annotate if they are soy-free, seed-free, raw, gluten-free, nut-free and sugar free.
The book is perfect for anyone who has newly become vegan as the recipes tips ans ideas are very useful and easy to follow.

Book Details :The Vegan Cookbook By Adele McConnell
ISBN 978-1-84899-338-9
Retails  £9.99

My score for the book: 12/15

Content -4/5
Illustrations-4/5
Recipe Instructions-4/5

** I was sent a copy of the book to review as always all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.







Coming back to the Chai Spiced Muffins, sadly the first batch I made were really dry and not sweet enough as the original recipe does not have any sugar added to it and relies on the natural sweetness of the banana. I recreated the recipe for the second time but this time I added half a cup of brown sugar to the recipe and also sprinkled some sugar on top of the muffins. I also added a touch more liquid and the muffins turned out much better. Vegan muffins do not have the same texture as normal muffins and these were a little more dense, more like banana bread than muffins. Despite this we did enjoy them.

I took inspiration from the original recipe from the book and below you can see my version that I recreated with minor changes.

print recipe

Chai Spiced Banana Muffins

by Nayna Kanabar November-26-2017

Delicious Chai flavoured Muffins, that are vegan and healthy too.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Plain Flour
• 1/2 cup (plus 2 tablespoons for sprinkling) Brown Sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1 teaspoon Chai Spice
• 2 Ripe Bananas
• 3/4 cup roughly chopped Pecans
• 1/3 cup Sunflower oil
• 1 teaspoon Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1/2 Cup Coconut Milk

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 190 degrees C/ 375 degrees F2. In a jug add the coconut milk and the vinegar and keep aside.3. In a large bowl, add the bananas and mash them up with a fork. Add the oil and vanilla and the milk mixture from the jug and whisk together.
4.Sieve the flour, spices, baking powder straight into the bowl. Add the sugar and gently fold the mixture till combined. Fold in the chopped pecans.5. Divide the mixture into the cake cases and sprinkle a little brown sugar on the top ,bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes until golden brown. 6. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack.

Details

Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 25 mins Total time: 40 mins Yield: 12

** NB If you want to make your own chai spice mixture mix together 1/2 teaspoon cardamon powder, 1/2 teaspoon clove powder, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/2 teaspoon all spice and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper powder.

Do you enjoy muffins, what is your favorite combination? Do tell me in the comments below.

I also  have a copy of the Vegan Cook Book to giveaway to one simplyfood reader so you too can create your own mouth watering Vegan recipes.

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