Managing food waste can be a part of all households. At Niño ELA, it’s integral to our ethos of instilling sustainability and nutritional education from a young age. Using up food as it is starting to turn, can bring a bounty of delights. One of my favourites is Banana Muffins. Bananas seem to be able to go from edible to completely inedible overnight! Once they start turning brown they become much sweeter and are perfect for baking. If you don’t have time to cook them straight away, you can always pop them in the freezer. Simply skin them and put them in a container in the freezer to use for muffins, banana bread or smoothies.

This recipe for muffins can be also be adapted to banana bread. You can omit the choc chips if you like, and walnuts can also be a nice addition.

Makes 6 large muffins

Ingredients

• 130g butter, softened or melted
• 150g rapadura or raw sugar (rapadura gives a more nutty, caramel flavour)
• 2 eggs
• 220 g spelt flour
• Pinch salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon bicarb
• 100g milk
• 2 tablespoons vanilla
• Handful choc chips or roughly chopped dark chocolate
• 3-4 ripe bananas, mashed

Method

1. Preheat oven at 180°C.
2. Grease muffin tins or loaf pan.
3. Mix butter and sugar, add eggs and mix well.
4. Add flour, salt, baking powder, bicarb, milk and vanilla. Mix well.
5. Add mashed banana and chocolate and mix to combine.
6. Bake for 30-45 mins until golden brown and skewer comes out clean.
7. Muffins are more likely to be 30-35mins, and banana bread 40-45mins.
8. Serve warm with butter.

Enjoy!

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Dr Lauren Burns (PhD) is an Olympic gold medallist and a leading nutritionist who shares our passion for building healthy eating habits for life.

Learn more about Niño ELA’s nutrition program »

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Eat the Rainbow – Nutritional Education at an Early Age »