Playful yummy bakes for modern home bakers
Mars Bar cupcakes, what a joyous trio we have here. These cupcakes make me so happy. Chocolate and caramel is a mighty combo, so delicious. Soft and fluffy vanilla cupcakes, filled with dulce de leche and topped with not one by two flavours and buttercream, …
Chocolate pancakes; two magic words for the best start to your day. I’m not saying this is an everyday kinda breakfast, but as a treat these are gorgeous. Rich and chocolatey and topped with berries, whipped cream, all the major food groups. I’ve also had …
Chocolate peanut butter bites. Goodness, do I love these. I know you should play favourites but I’ve got to say, I make these no-bake snacks more often than anything else and they are such a winner with my husband, he absolutely loves them. Salty, sweet treats; I mean when chocolate and peanut butter come together, is it ever a bad thing?!
These are super versatile too and can easily be made vegan. In fact, they are pretty much there already, just sub out the chocolate for a vegan friendly alternative and you’re there. They can easily be made gluten free too, just use a gluten free friendly brand of oats. (Quaker oats make a great GF range) I love recipes that are so inclusive like that; no one misses out on the good stuff.
1 cup porridge oats
1 tbsp chia seeds
½ cup smooth peanut butter
3 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch salt (⅛ tsp)
¼ cup peanuts
Approx 40g dark chocolate (I really like Lindt for baking, such a rich cocoa flavour)
Makes between 10-15 bites, depending on the size you roll them. I get 13 balls if I weigh them to 25g per bite, but hey, life is short, so you can equally just go with the flow.)
Blitz the porridge oats in a food processor and add to a large mixing bowl.
Add in all the rest of the ingredients (excluding the chocolate) and stir to combine.
Once the mix comes together and comes away from the bowl you can start to roll into balls. The mix should not be wet, but it should come (and stay) together easily when pressed together. If it’s a bit dry add a little extra maple syrup. If it’s a little loose, add a bit more oats or chia seeds. The chia seeds are fab for binding the bites together and they will be firmer once they chill in the fridge.
To coat the bites in chocolates, lay them out on a lined tray.
Chop the chocolate finely. Save ¼ back. Melt the remaining chocolate in a microwave safe bowl, in short bursts of 30 secs each until it is just melted. Then add the remaining chocolate and keep stirring until it is silky and completely melted. This is a simple, cheats way to temper chocolate.
Either completely coat the bites in chocolate, half and half or drizzle away, whatever you fancy.
These are best stored in the fridge and they’ll last a good week there. Snack away.
Looking for other healthy recipe ideas that taste great (yes, there doesn’t have to be a trade off) try our Strawberry sunrise smoothie or Cinnamon oat and banana pancakes with spiced plums or Get up and go granola – homemade breakfast ideas – its all delicious
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I don’t know about you but bowl and spoon bakes are honestly the most liberating and delicious things you can make. No fancy gadgets required. Let’s face it, with everything else going on in life, if we can cancel out a bit of stress, let’s do it. Think of these chocolate banana bread muffins, not simply as the yummy treats that they are, and trust me, they really are, but also as a touch of kitchen therapy. A little gentle mixing and you’re on your way to some satisfying comfort eating.
I know we all went, literally, bananas, for banana bread in lockdown and during the pandemic, but kinda for good reason, it is honestly one of the most satisfying, comforting and happy bakes there is. Everything about it is cosy. The flavours, the texture, the ritual…I mean no matter the time of year you know that some serious R&R is about to go down when banana bread is on the table. Throw in chocolate and you’ve got one seriously relaxing party on your hands.
For me, these chocolate banana bread muffins are perfect and with the hint of cinnamon make them a truly comforting teatime classic. Give them a go!
I was inspired to make these, when a while back I made Nigel Slater’s brown banana cake which was delicious. I tweaked a few things and made these even easier by turning them into muffins, something you can whip up super fast, when you need a friendly little pick me up.
100g dark chocolate chunks
2 large brown bananas
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp salt
250g self rising flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarb
50g caster sugar
50g light brown sugar
75g melted butter
2 large eggs
125 ml butter milk (or add 1 tbsp of lemon juice to milk and wait 15 mins)
To make the chocolate banana bread muffins, start by chopping the dark chocolate into chunks and coat with a tbsp of flour so that they don’t all fall to the bottom of the muffins when they bake. Leave to one side to add in later.
Measure out the flour, baking powder, bicarb, cinnamon and salt and sift into a mixing bowl.
Melt the butter and let it cool for a bit before you add in all the wet ingredients. (If the eggs are too hot they will scramble the eggs, which isn’t the look we’re going for)
In another mixing bowl, mash the brown bananas with the fork. Add in the buttermilk, eggs, sugar, vanilla and melted butter and stir to combine.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold gently to combine. Don’t worry if there are a few lumps in the batter, that’s totally fine, in fact, you don’t want to overmix the batter so it’s better to have a few lumps rather than mix for too long.
Leave a handful of chocolate chunks to one side to add on top of the muffins and then pour in the chocolate and stir to combine.
Pop in the fridge for an hour for the batter to relax. (If you don’t have time you can bake straight away but I find it helps the muffins to rise better if you let the mix chill). You could even make this before you go to bed and let it chill overnight in the fridge and bake them in the morning, that would be fab.
Preheat the oven to 190 celsius for a good 10 mins.
Line a muffin tin with 10 cases and fill the batter right to the top. Add some chocolate chunks to the top of each muffin.
Bake for 20-25 mins until golden brown and cooked all the way through. I use a cake tester to see if the muffins are cooked. If no batter sticks to the tester and the muffin tops spring back when you touch them, they are all cooked and ready to eat.
Transfer the muffins to a cooling rack for a bit before diving in.
Fancy some more chilled out bakes? Try my Double Chocolate Baked Doughnuts or Jammie Dodger cupcakes, both absolute winners!
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I don’t know about you, but I often feel like no matter how productive I am, my to-do list keeps on growing that bit faster and often even though I have the best intentions to buy people really thoughtful gifts, sometimes I lose track of time. If this sounds familiar, our white chocolate selection box might just be the thing for you, particularly if someone you’re buying for is a massive milky bar lover.
The EmmaBakes white chocolate selection box is filled with three gorgeously creamy artisan, handcrafted chocolates that’ll bring a big smile to someone’s face. Cookies and Cream, Jelly Bean truffles and Jazzies chocolates. Colourful, vibrant and fun. This is a joyful and nostalgic postal gift ready to send out for Birthdays, special occasions or ‘just because.’ Equally lovely as solo, personal indulgences too. Why not?
Our range of luxury handmade chocolates at EmmaBakesElevateThis are a simple and thoughtful way to send a little love through the post to show you care – no fuss ordering and speedy delivery for every occasion. We offer a huge range of dairy, vegan friendly and gluten free options to choose from and provide unique gift boxes filled with delicious and beautifully decorated confectionery that you wouldn’t find in the shop. Super simple for you and a lovely surprise for the receiver, perfect.
Obviously, if you are the BIGGEST FAN of the Cookies and Cream or the Jazzies chocolates, then you can still buy them as individual boxes in my shop too. Something for everyone.
We can’t all like the same things and that difference is possibly the best thing about being human; we are all unique and so have different favourites. So if you love white chocolate but would prefer something else, then we have you covered:
Why not try our Turkish Delight chocolates? They are dreamy and delicate scented with vanilla, rose and orange blossom water.
Or perhaps our strawberries and cream chocolates are for you? I really love these ones, bursting with freeze dried strawberries and orange zest, these flavours are absolutely beautiful with the creamy chocolate.
Or maybe for a bit of texture and colour, our raspberry and pistachio white chocolate truffles would be for you.
Which one would be your favourite? Let us know.
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