The Green Impact blog is being handed over to the Student Services teams this week! This post is by Kimberley Marwood, Project Officer, Projects and Development Team. If you or your team would like to contribute to the blog, email greenimpact@sheffield.ac.uk.
I’ve recently started baking sweet and savoury muffins as snacks and great on-the-go food for my daughter. They are really quick to make and cook, can be frozen and defrosted overnight or cooked from frozen in the oven. They will keep reasonably fresh in an air-tight container for 4-5 days.
I started making muffins when I came across a lot of recipes on baby-led weaning blogs. Savoury muffins are a really good way to reduce food waste and use up left over cheese and veggies, like these.
I’ve tried these with vegetables including courgette, broccoli, carrot and sweetcorn – and perhaps less successfully, butternut squash (it contains too much moisture!). I’ve also made versions with cheddar, feta and some with ham.
The recipe for these Banana Breakfast Muffins is from the River 
Cottage Handbook No.8 – they do contain a small amount of sugar but this can easily be removed or substituted with an alternative sweetener like maple syrup or honey. You can also add in other fruit and berries, like blueberries or raspberries, to sweeten.
Makes 10 large muffins:
225g plain flour
2tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
1-2 tsp ground cinnamon
100g light muscovado sugar, plus optional extra for sprinkling on top
100ml plain yoghurt
30-50ml milk
1 egg
100ml sunflower or rapeseed oil
150g cold cooked porridge
2 ripe bananas, 1 mashed to a puree
1 sliced into 10 pieces
Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas mark 6. Sift the first 5 ingredients into a medium mixing bowl. Add the sugar and mix together evenly, either by mixing with a spoon or beating with an electric mixer for about 30 seconds on the lowest speed.
Next put the measured yoghurt, 30ml milk, egg, oil, porridge and the mashed banana into a large mixing jug or bowl. Beat together until well combined and the mixture is like a thick batter, adding extra milk if it is too thick. Pour into the dry ingredients and stir very lightly, scraping the sides down, until it is combined, with no clumps of dry flour lurking in the bottom of the mixing bowl.
Divide the mixture between the muffin cups, filling each to three-quarters full (this will be about one full tablespoon per cup). Pop a piece of banana in the centre of each and sprinkle with sugar (optional).
Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until well risen and the tops are golden. The muffins should spring back into shape when lightly touched.
Yes, this is still technically a cake – but we’ve all got to start somewhere – enjoy!