By Manasi Anand | Posted: December 14, 2018

It’s the holiday season! Be it Christmas or New Year, everyone has an occasion to celebrate in December. After all, it’s the end of another year, and that deserves a celebration in itself. Here’s a recipe you can make this December.

Blueberry Banana Muffins

In the last few years, I’ve discovered that I love making desserts even more than eating them. I do get the occasional craving for something sweet, but I really just like baking desserts or finding innovative ways to prepare them. In my search for something easy and a bit unusual, I came up with this recipe.

These muffins are very easy to prepare, good tasting, and quite healthy as well because they contain reduced sugar and white flour. They’re completely vegan, with no dairy, and no eggs. (You can modify the ingredients if you wish to). They come out fluffy and well cooked.

The best part is, if you don’t have a muffin pan or an oven, you can steam them like idlis (popular south Indian recipe)!

Ingredients:

½ cup all-purpose flour

1 ½ cups oat flour (Grind oats in a mixer till it forms flour)

5-6 dates. Depends on preference.

8-10 blueberries. Again, depends on preference.

2 bananas.

1-2 cups soy milk.  (You can use normal dairy milk or any other alternative, like coconut milk. It’s up to you.)

3-4 tablespoons sugar. Vary according to your need.

1 tsp baking soda

Procedure

1. In a mixer, first, prepare the oat flour. Grind it till it has a flour-like consistency. Then in a bowl, mix the oat flour and all-purpose flour together. Keep aside.

2. Now separately in the mixer, grind together the bananas, blueberries, and dates, till it forms a paste.

3. Now mix the paste and the flour together. Add sugar and mix it well. Add fresh whole blueberries to it as well if you wish. I would suggest you add the whole ones since they will enhance the flavor.

4. Keep adding the soy milk to make the batter runny. The batter should not be very thick, it should be a little runny so that the muffins come out well.

5. Add the baking soda. Let the batter sit for 10 mins until you see bubbles rise.

6. Now stir the batter a bit (strictly in one direction only, or else the baking soda will not take effect.)

7. Check for consistency again. Line your idli pan/rack with a bit of oil or butter and pour the batter in.

Fill as many pan/idli racks as you wish to.

8. Now, preheat the pressure cooker. Add around half a cup of water. Just heat it for 5-7 mins.

9. Now add some more water inside the pressure cooker, around say 1 to 1 and half cups.

10. Place your idli rack(s) inside the cooker.

11. Close the lid of the cooker.

12. Remember to remove the whistle. Don’t use the whistle of the cooker.

13. Keep the flame on high for 5 mins, then turn it to medium for the next 10 mins and then to low for the next 10-15 mins. The total time taken should be about 30 to 40 mins max.

14. You can open your cooker and see after 30 mins whether your muffins are done or not. In case they’re not done, steam on low flame for another couple of minutes.

15. Once your muffins are done, they will fluff and rise up and start opening from above and the batter color will change. And of course, they will smell heavenly!

16. You can insert a toothpick or a small knife and check whether the batter is sticking to it or not. If not, your muffins are ready! If it sticks, then you need to cook it just a bit more.

Blueberry banana muffins are ready

So that’s it!! Your freshly prepared muffins are ready to eat. Straight out of the kitchen.

You can top them with more blueberries and prepare any icing if you want.

If you have an oven and a muffin pan, you can bake them at 350 degrees until done.

Enjoy the delicacy with your friends and family!

Originally published on https://acupfulofeverything.com

Manasi Anand, a Physical therapist, dance movement therapist, blogger, and writer based in Singapore. She loves to cook, read, dance, meditate, do yoga. explore new places and meet different kinds of people, and founded A Cupful Of Everything about 9 years ago where she posts some very interesting reads.