I have a long running diet problem.  My weight goes up and down by the same two stone like a yo-yo.  The reason  why? I have a sweet tooth. I had a long chat with my hubby and he said the answer is simple: “Stop baking!” To me, to stop baking would be like someone who loved playing football to be told they couldn’t play or even watch a game.  Baking is therapy to me, a real stress buster and I hope when my children are older to go back to baking cakes professionally.  It is something I enjoy doing and although I need a lot of practice in some techniques, I like to think I’m good at what I do.

In the meantime, I had ripe bananas to use up.  The kids never seem to eat them as much as they used to and I didn’t want them to go to waste.  It was last Friday afternoon and we had to be up on the Saturday morning at 3am as my daughter was setting off on a school trip to New York.  This involved being at school for a very early coach trip down to Heathrow.  I don’t know about you but I can’t eat that early on in the morning, just a cup of tea or coffee is fine for me.  Same goes for my daughter but I was worried about her not eating breakfast.  So these muffins seemed a perfect idea.

The original recipe for the muffins is in the breakfast chapter of the second Hairy Bikers’ diet book “Eat For Life” which is the yellow one published last year.

The muffins are so easy to make and as Si and Dave say “These little beauties are lower in fat and sugar than the standard and are still nicely naughty. They don’t have the same texture as a shop bought muffin but they are still tasty and filling”

At only 119 calories a muffin they would be ideal for anyone who needed to be out and about for an early start and then you could eat something like a piece of fruit later on in the morning to keep you going.  Or if you’re like me, you’d drool at the smell of a bacon buttie…..

 To bake the muffins I started off by sifting self raising flour, cinnamon and bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl. This was then mixed up and to this I added some grated lemon zest. After this I added in two medium mashed bananas and some milk.  Then this was followed by some sultanas.

The lower fat content is created by using egg whites only in the mixture and there isn’t any other fat such as butter or oil added. The sweetness comes from the flavour of the bananas and there is a sprinkling of brown sugar on top of the muffins themselves.  It’s a whole tablespoon that has to be divided amongst 12 muffins though!

I had to whisk three egg whites with my electric stick whisk until stiff peaks formed then this was quickly folded into the mixture until it was easily incorporated.  Into the oven they went after spooning the mixture carefully into some muffin cases.  The ones shown in the picture come from Waitrose, love the pretty pastel colours.  There were green ones in the packet as well but they’ve all gone now!

The muffins baked for about 20 minutes and rose beautifully in the oven.  I was desperate to eat one but had to wait until the next morning. My daughter didn’t eat one but my son and I enjoyed one.  I was pleasantly surprised. They did taste different from the muffins you get in the shops but then again I don’t really like them anyway. Much too sweet for me and too big! These tasted delicious and not like “diet” food.  Just the right size too.

Happy Baking!

Love Sam xx