Eggless Chocolate Muffins with Butternut Squash

Finally this post has come out of my drafts. I made these muffins last week and totally forgot to post it. These muffins taste very unique with the flavours of butternut squash and chocolate together. This is my first attempt of making muffins without following any recipe and I was very doubtful of the texture of the muffin without using egg or egg substitutes. But after mixing all ingredients, I had a confidence that this would be soft, moist and delicious. The butternut squash pureed with brown sugar itself was so tasty that my daughter started licking from the blender jar :-). Try these muffins for a unique flavour combo.

For those who are not familiar with butternut squash, here is a pic. It tastes similar to pumpkin. You may use pumpkin and follow the same recipe.

 Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 1.5 cups
Baking Soda - 1 tsp
Unsweetened Cocoa powder - 3 tbsp
Butternut squash - 1
Dark Brown sugar - 3/4 cup
Oil - 1/2 cup

Preparation:

1. Peel the butternut squash using a peeler, scoop out the seeds inside and cut the flesh to small cubes. The peel is very hard to remove with a knife. Steam these cubes till soft, about 10 mins.
2. Once the cubes cool down a little, keep about 10-12 cubes aside. These are to be used to top the muffins. Puree the rest of the cubes along with brown sugar. Keep aside.
3. Preheat oven to 200C and line the muffin tray with paper muffin cases or grease with a little oil.
4. In a mixing bowl, sift together APF, baking soda and cocoa. Add the puree and the oil and combine with a spatula till all the ingredients are incorporated well. Do not mix too much.
5. Scoop into the muffin tray and top it with a cube of the butternut. Bake for 15-25 mins till they are baked well.  Insert a toothpick or cocktail stick to check.

Linking this recipe with 100 day Global Food Festival

Chocolate Banana Muffins

This morning when Radhika posted these muffins, I wanted to try these very soon. I had already bookmarked   this in Nigella Lawson's website, but due to some reason I couldn't bake it. So Radhika's post came as a reminder and when I checked my pantry, I had all the ingredients at hand. Also, I wanted to try something chocolatey with the Cadbury Bournville cocoa powder I bought from Cadbury World near Birmingham. I guess I haven't mentioned about my trip to the Cadbury factory at Bournville  in any of the posts before. It is a wonderland for all the people who love chocolate. The aroma of freshly made chocolate fills the air and I relished every moment spent in the premises :-) There are demonstrations of how chocolates are made, the packaging and they give some samples too. The World's largest Cadbury Shop is located here where we can find all varieties of chocolate and related products of Cadbury. If you want to visit or know more check this link: Cadbury World

A few pics taken there...

The factory

The chocolate shop

The handcrafted chocolate shoe

Now coming to the recipe...These muffins are soft, moist, with a wonderful banana and chocolate flavour.

Ingredients:

All purpose Flour - 1 cup

Baking soda - 1 tsp

Cocoa powder - 2 tbsp

Very ripe banana - 2

Egg - 1 large

Oil - 1/2 cup

Dark Brown Sugar - 1/2 cup

The above ingredients yield 8 regular muffins

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 200C and line the muffin tray with paper muffin cases or grease with a little oil.

2. Sift together flour, cocoa powder and baking soda and keep aside.

3. Mash the bananas very well using a blender or mixer. To this add oil followed by eggs and sugar. Mix well after adding each ingredient.

4. Add the flour and cocoa mix to this wet mix and combine well.

5. Scoop into the muffin pan and bake for 15-25 mins till they are baked well.  Insert a toothpick or cocktail stick to check.

This is an excellent muffin for breakfast along with milk. Definitely a hit among kids. My daughter loves anything with chocolate and there is no need to say that she loved it. She could hardly wait till they cooled down.

Linking this with Anyone can cook: Series 32

My 100th post - Buttermilk Berry Muffins

Hurray !!! this is my 100th post. I never dreamt of posting so many recipes in less than 3 months time. And there is one more reason to celebrate - my blog has 10,000+ hits now. So, this is a double dose of happiness to me. I would like to thank all my readers, friends,blogger pals and family members who encourage me with their words and comments that keeps me going.

I started baking just a few months ago and my husband gifted me a muffin tray this week.He is the one who encouraged me to start this blog. He is the food critic, official tester and taster of all the dishes in this blog.  This is the first set of muffins I baked in the new tray. My little daughter is very fond of berries, so I thought of starting with a berry muffin recipe.  She loved the muffins so much that she asked for more after finishing 2 muffins within minutes.

So, here are the berry-licious muffins from me to you...and a big THANK YOU...

These muffins are very soft and easy to make...

Dry Ingredients:
All purpose Flour - 2.5 cups
Granulated White Sugar - 3/4 cup (I used a little above 1/2 cup)
Baking powder - 2 tsp
Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Lemon or orange zest - I used zest of a medium size orange.
Mixed berries - 1.5 cups (I used raspberries and blueberries)

Wet Ingredients:
Egg - 1 large
Buttermilk* - 1 cup
Oil - 1/2 cup
Pure vanilla extract - 1 tsp

* - To make instant buttermilk for baking, add 1 tbsp of lemon juice or white vinegar to 1 cup of milk at room temperature. Keep aside for 5 to 10 mins and then it is ready to use.

The above measurement yields 12 regular size muffins.

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 190C / 375F. Line a 12 cup muffin tray with muffin cases and keep aside.
2. In the first bowl, add the sifted flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Combine well. Gently fold in the berries.
3. In the second bowl, lightly beat the egg and then add buttermilk, oil and vanilla extract. Mix well with a whisk.
4. Pour the contents of the second bowl to the first bowl and gently combine them with a spatula. Mix till the ingredients are just combined and taking care not to break the berries. Do not over mix.
5. Scoop the muffin mix to the muffin cups and bake for 20-25 mins or when a toothpick/skewer inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool for 10-15 mins

Recipe Source: Joy of Baking.

Sending this to Friday Potluck #4 @ Show and Tell

Sending this to Healing Foods - Berries hosted by Smitha, an event series started by Siri.