Ingredients:
- 180g softly roasted pumpkin or squash (cooked flesh only)
- 2 ripe bananas (the browner the banana the sweeter for baking)
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 90ml melted coconut oil
- 60ml milk
- 50g granulated sugar
- 280g plain flour
- 1 tsp mixed spice
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 40g dark chocolate chips
- 40g raisins
The perfect warming treat on an autumn day.
Method:
1. Heat the oven to 200C | 190C fan | gas 6.
2. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with muffin cases.
3. To roast the pumpkin or squash cut them in half and remove the seeds. Place the two halves on a baking tray with the skin up, flesh down. Bake for appoximately 30-40 minutes until the flesh is soft. Use only the cooked soft flesh in this recipe, not the skin.
4. Place the cooled roasted pumpkin and peeled bananas into a large bowl and mash well. Add the beaten egg, vanilla extract, oil, milk and sugar and mix all the wet ingredients together.
5. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, mixed spice, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.
6. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and blend together. The mix should have no flour showing but will be lumpy. In the final strokes add the raisins and chocolate chips.
7. Spoon the mixture equally between the 12 muffin cases.
8. Bake the muffins in the centre of the preheated oven for 20 – 25 minutes until the muffins are golden and risen. The muffins should spring back when you touch the tops.
9. Leave the muffins to cool in the tin for a few minutes and then lift to cool further on a wire rack. Eat fresh on day – warm is best!
Did you know?
All pumpkins and squash are edible, but some varieties are tastier than others. When cooking, look for culinary pumpkins. These will be sweeter and tastier! The very large orange pumpkins are best left for carving at Halloween. Gourds are inedible and only used for decoration.
Top Tip
Muffins can be frozen. Add a frozen muffin to packed lunch boxes to keep the contents cool. The muffin will defrost in time for lunch!
This recipe has been lovingly created for Kilduff Farm by Sonia Lee, LeeLifeNutition.
Sonia is a business mentor and accredited coach but also an enthusiastic cook, nutritionally conscious recipe writer and food photographer. She has a Diploma in Culinary Medicine and Applied Nutrition. As a mother of two she is passionate about nutritional content, wellbeing and the intelligent sourcing of ingredients in her cooking. Sonia greatly supports the genuine care and attention that the team at Kilduff Farm invests into their pumpkins and is excited to be working with them to develop and promote their use.