My kids weren’t big fans of banana muffins until they tasted my friend Brid’s. I think it was the addition of the cinnamon that convinced them which wasn’t in my original recipe or the fact that someone else baked them! Brid’s banana muffins are now a staple in the lunch box!  This recipe can also be baked as a loaf but you need to bake it for 45 -50 minutes. Place a banana chip on top of the batter to give it a coffee house look or change the shape and bake them in mini loaf pans.

3-4 ripe bananas mashed

85 grams/ 3 ounces/ 6 tablespoons/ melted butter cooled

200 grams/ 1 cup/ 7 ounces sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

187 grams/ 1 ½ cups/ 6 ½ ounces self raising flour (all purpose)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

54grams/ ½ cup/ 2 ounces nuts: chopped pecans/walnuts – optional

I use very ripe bananas for this recipe( I don’t even mash them!) Just place all the ingredients in an electric mixer and whizz until you have a smooth batter. Use a muffin scoop to divide the batter into the cases and bake for approx 20 min at 180C/350F

Cheat by using frozen bananas which you have thawed. If you have a glut of overripe banana peel and freeze them in fours so you have enough for a batch of muffins. You can even freeze bananas in their skins. Do be aware that once they have thawed they will be very limp but that is ideal for your muffins.

Make these gluten free by substituting the flour and baking powder with a GF variety. I like Dove’s Farm brand. Remember to include ¼ teaspoon of Xanthum gum.

 

It looks like summer has finally arrived in Cork today and what better way to celebrate than with a glass of refreshing homemade lemonade. This is my cousin Sandie’s recipe which she kindly shared with me. This easy recipe makes enough for three lots of lemonade, just keep the syrup in the fridge until you are ready to use it.

To make the syrup:

Three lemongrass roughly chopped

1 pound/ 454grams/ 2 ¼ cups sugar

1 pint/ 568 millilitres/ 2 ½ cups water

Place all the above ingredients into a pot and boil over a medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. If you keep boiling it, it will become very thick which you don’t want to happen! Discard the lemongrass and chill your syrup until you are ready to use it.

To make the lemonade:

300millilitres/1 cup syrup

Juice of three lemons

1 litre/34 fluid ounces/ 2.2 UK pints sparkling water

Simply squeeze the lemons and combine with the syrup and sparkling water in a jug. Add ice and sliced lemons and serve in a tall glass!

 

This is my friend Leonie’s signature dish but credit must go to her husband Willie who actually makes it! This is such an easy recipe. My ten year old daughter Maedbh made the one in the photo because she was inspired to bake after watching CBBC’s Junior Bake off. The cornflour and vinegar are essential as they create the marshmallow centre. If you omit these you will have under baked meringue! I use cider vinegar as it is sweeter than white wine vinegar but if that is all you have in, use that. Use the yolks from the separated eggs to make lemon curd or pancakes or cheat by using bottled egg whites!

• 5 egg whites
• 10 ounces/284 grams/1 ¼ cups white caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon cornflour

Make sure that your bowl is clean and free of grease as your egg whites will be affected. Beat your egg whites with the whisk attachment until stiff. You should be able to tip the bowl upside down and they shouldn’t fall out. Add the sugar while the mixer is going slowly, two tablespoons at a time. Maedbh counted ten seconds between each one. This is to ensure that the sugar is incorporated fully otherwise your meringue will ooze a sticky sugar syrup when you take it out of the oven. Finally add the cornflour and cider vinegar and mix to incorporate.

Using a spatula scrape all of the meringue mixture into a parchment lined pan. My pan is 10” x 14” x1” /27cmx 36cm x2cm. You can also use a large Swiss roll/jelly roll pan. Bake at 140C for 30 minutes Allow to cool and turn out unto parchment paper. The crust should be facing down.  Maedbh used a filling of strawberries and cream in this one but whipped cream with two tablespoons of good lemon curd and raspberries is pretty good also. Dredge it with icing/powdered sugar and enjoy!