Gateway Muffins - Super easy mix banana muffins

 

You will not believe how easy these muffins are. No special equipment or fancy ingredients for the basic mixture and you can pop in any type of add in you like. I first published them on the blog here back in 2014 as raspberry and there is no way to keep track of how often I've made them. The recipe is still almost too good to believe.

If your household is anything like mine, the kids will be eating bananas by the truckload and then all of a sudden stop. It used to drive me crazy but now I don't mind at all, I just make muffins. Also no big deal if you don't have time to cook right now, just peel the banana, wrap them in cling film and pop them into the freezer. When you're ready to cook pull them out defrost and use them, the mushier the better in this case.

Plus they are a gateway muffin to healthy eating and home cooking. They are not actually a health food, but if you have someone who eats too much processed packet foods, chances are you can win them over with these muffins and actually get a bit of hidden fruit into their diet. I sometimes made them with wholemeal (wholewheat) flour and they still taste great.

I made a YouTube video here which is only just over 4 minutes long from start to finish which shows just how fast and easily you can whip up a batch of home made deliciousness.

This is consistently one of the go to recipes I have used over the years. You can have them plain banana or add in chocolate, blueberries, raspberries, pretty much anything at all.

If there is one recipe on the blog I recommend everyone have up their sleeve, it's this one, trust me you won't regret it.

Happy Baking

Linda 

XX

Super Easy Mix Banana Muffins

makes 9 muffins. I often make a mix of different muffins by mixing all the ingredients up to the add in stage, scooping the batter into the muffin tins and then adding different add ins so I end up with a mixed variety of muffins. ie 3 blueberry, 3 chocolate and 3 white chocolate and raspberry.

3 very ripe bananas
1 egg
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 cup oil (I used olive oil)

Optional add ins: 

3/4 cup raspberry (fresh or frozen) and 1/4 cup white chocolate;

 or 1/2 cup chocolate chips; 

or 3/4 cup blueberries

Preheat oven to 160C (325F) and line a regular muffin tin with baking papers (you will only need to line 9 of the 12 holes)

In a large bowl using a fork, mash the bananas well. 

Add the wet ingredients and mix well.

Add all remaining ingredients except the optional add in's and mix until just combined.

Divide mixture evenly between the 9 paper cases filling up to the top of each cupcake paper. 

**Add in extra 'add-ins' at this stage. You can make all one flavour or make a mixture. Some ideas are chocolate chip; raspberry/white choc chip; blueberry. Just push the ingredients into the mixture.

Bake until the top is golden and a skewer inserted comes out clean (around 30 minutes).

Original photos and recipe from the Bubble and Sweet blog ©Linda McCubbin 2025. I love when people share my blog ideas and give credit. Please feel free to link back to my blog for non commercial purposes. Affiliated links and adds may earn me money, however all ideas and opinions are my own.

Easy Pistachio Basque Cheesecake Recipe

I just celebrated my birthday, and with the kids pretty much grown up, finding a night we can all be together to have dinner in between their casual jobs, school, uni and other commitments is a bit tricky. 

I was sitting down Friday night working out what day we should organise my dinner and realised that if we didn't do it that Sunday it would be a month again before we would all be together so that's how this cheesecake came to be.

My Chocolate basque cheesecake recipe (click here for link) is one of my go to easy favourites. If you make it in the morning it can actually be served that night. I decided I didn't want the lead up to my birthday to be spent rushing to put together a layer cake and I had already been thinking of changing up my cheesecake recipe to use some of the pistachio cream I had in my fridge and luckily for us it worked out perfectly.

Basque cheesecake is crazy easy to make, my recipe has 5 ingredients plus a pinch of salt and it's just about making sure everything is room temperature and mixed well at a low speed. Even lining the tin is easy just scrunch up baking paper and press it into the tin. It's the ultimate lazy dessert.

I did add an extra step by decorating around the edge with more pistachio cream and chopped pistachios. Just to make it a bit more birthday-ee. But you can totally miss that out and it will be gorgeously burnt and delicious.

I still want to make myself an actual proper layered birthday cake,  it will have to wait at least a month but that will give me enough time to come up with some fun ideas. 

Happy Baking

xx

Linda

Pistachio Basque Cheesecake - makes a 6" cheesecake which will make 6-8 snack serves. Store in fridge for up to 3 days. Can be frozen wrapped individually in plastic wrap and thawed in the fridge.

450g (16oz) cream cheese at room temperature

300g (10 1/2 oz) pistachio cream

3 eggs room temperature

1 tsp vanilla

225g (8oz) thickened cream (dollop cream) (heavy cream)

good pinch salt

Optional decoration extra pistachio cream around 1/4 cup and 1/4 cup chopped pistachio nuts

Line a 6 inch wide by 3 inch high, round baking tin with baking paper. To do this crumple up the paper in your hands and then place over the baking tin and press down I used a spoon to press a line around the bottom rim and then turn the edges over the top rim.

Place cooking rack into middle of oven and preheat to 220 C Fan forced (430F).

Make sure the cream cheese is at room temperature so the mixture will be silky smooth. Place into mixer bowl and mix at low speed until smooth and creamy. You do not want any lumps at this stage and also we are not trying to incorporate extra air or volume. The room temperature ingredients and slow mixing are key steps.

Scrap down the sides of the bowl. Add the eggs one at a time and vanilla and mix until well. Continue to scrap down the sides of the bowl until the mixture is completely combined and smooth.

Warm the pistachio cream in the microwave for about 30 seconds until it is fluid but not hot and fold in with a spatula, there should be no lumps and no streaks when you are finished.

Add the thickened cream and salt and mix well.

Pour mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 25 mins, increase temperature to 230C (450F) and cook for a further 5 mins. 

Turn oven off and allow to cool in oven with door ajar for 15mins. 

Put cheesecake into fridge for at lease 4 hours or overnight.

Prior to serving remove from tin and allow to sit at room temperature for 20 mins. If your cheesecake is stuck and you can't get it to release, it's just some of the fats set hard. Run a plastic spatula around the edge between the paper and tin and if it still won't come out pop the base into hot water for a second being careful not to splash the cake and it should easily slide out.

**Optional extra decorating step -after cheesecake is cooled in fridge, immediately on removal from fridge while still chilled.

Remove cheesecake from baking paper and spread a thin layer of pistachio cream around the sides of the cheesecake with an offset spatula or knife.

Place the chopped pistachios on a plate.

Holding the cake by the flat sides roll the pistachio cream covered edges in the chopped pistachios. They will stick to the the pistachio cream. 

Original photos and recipe from the Bubble and Sweet blog ©Linda McCubbin 2025. I love when people share my blog ideas and give credit. Please feel free to link back to my blog for non commercial purposes. Affiliated links and adds may earn me money, however all ideas and opinions are my own,

Textured Ombre Christmas Tree Macaron and Whipped White Chocolate Pistachio Ganache recipe

I'm a bit excited because I've recorded a new Youtube video. Oh my goodness, WOW! How much has technology changed in the last 10 years and by the way how fast does time go. Today was a learning curve, and some of the sound is a bit stilted, but new things are always fun and I'm looking forward to making more.

I thought I would jump back into it with some textured ombre Christmas Tree macarons, which is pretty much making up macaron mixture and not properly following through with the macaronage.

Which actually makes the whole process easier because no stopping and starting and counting out to see if the mixture is sinking back so it will make perfect shiny shells that won't collapse.

If you haven't made macarons before it might be a good place to start. I've used my regular macaron batter and piped the Christmas trees using Wilton petal tips 103 and 104 and then decorating with some royal icing.

I made the macarons in pink and green ombre which just means that they graduated from light to dark in the same shade. It would take a few steps out if you made them all the same colour and didn't decorate them and they look just as impressive.

The green macarons were filled with a delicious whipped pistachio ganache which I recommend, even if you decide not to make textured macarons (recipe below).

Happy Baking XX

Linda M

Macaron Recipe- Macarons should be filled a day prior to consuming and can be stored in fridge for a week. Filled and undecorated macarons can be wrapped in lots of 3-5 in plastic wrap, placed in an airtight container and frozen for a month.

190 gram (6 5/8 oz)almond meal (almond flour) blanched 190 gram pure icing sugar (6 5/8 oz powdered sugar) 190 gram granulated sugar (6 5/8 oz) 1 tsp powdered egg white (optional) 48 grams water (1 5/8 oz) 140 gram egg whites aged split into 2 lots of 70grams each (5 oz split into 2 lots of 2 1/2oz each) food color of choice 1. Mix the ground almonds and icing sugar together and pulse a few times in food processor to make almond meal finer. Do not over process as the meal can become oily. Sieve into a large bowl. Put 70g (2 1/2 ounce) of the egg whites in a bowl but don’t mix in yet. 2. Place remaining 70g (2 1/2 ounce) of egg whites in bowl of mixer fitted with the whisk. 3. Pop granulated sugar and water into saucepan stir to combine and cook without stirring to 118C (245 F). Brush down the sides with a pastry brush dipped in water as required to avoid the sugar crystallizing. Once the mixture reaches 115C (240 F) start mixing the egg whites on high. Make sure you have a pouring shield on your mixer, when the sugar syrup reaches 118C (245 F)remove from heat and immediately pour in a thin stream down the side of the mixer bowl continuing to whisk on high. 4. Continue to whisk the meringue on high until the side of the bowl is only a little warm to touch, around 50C (120 F). 5. Add meringue mixture to almond mixture and add in extra egg whites and using a large spatula fold the mixture together until it is just combined. 6. Split into 3 bowls with about 1/2 cup batter in one bowl, 1 cup in another and leave the remainder in the mixing bowl, then add colour to each bowl as desired making sure to not overmix. 7. Put each seperate colour into a piping bag fitted with a 103 or 104 petal tip. Line a tray with non stick baking paper or a silicone mat and using the darkest colour pipe a row with about 5 ruffles then another row with 4 ruffles, switch to the next lightest colour and pipe 3 ruffles and finally pipe a top swirl with the lightest colour.

Link to pink silicone mat AUSTRALIA AMAZON or US AMAZON

8. Allow to rest for 20 mins until the surface of macaron is just dry to touch and then bake at 135C (275 F) for 20 mins or until the tops of the macron is firm and does not jiggle when lightly pushed from the side. 9. Allow to cool and fill, I filled the green trees with Whipped White Chocolate Pistachio Ganache with a wilton open star tip, try tips 18 or 21.

Pistachio Ganache - I used Pisti pistachio cream I picked up at Costco here in Australia you can get it here on CLICK HERE FOR PISTACHIO PASTE AMAZON AUSTRALIA 

or in US  CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO AMAZON PISTACHIO PASTE  

300g white chocolate

100g cream

80g pistachio paste

optional drop green food colour (I used eucalypt)

- heat the pistachio paste for 20-30 seconds to warm it, set aside until needed.

- mix together the white chocolate and cream in a microwave safe bowl and heat at hight for 1 minute, allow to sit for 1 minute and mix until smooth, if there are still lumps that have melted, heat for another minute and mix until smooth.

- add the pistachio paste to the white chocolate ganache mixture and mix until smooth, add food colour if required,

- allow to cool then whip to make a lighter airier consistency once it has set. 

Original photos and recipe from the Bubble and Sweet blog by Linda Mccubbin. I love when people share my blog ideas and give credit. Please feel free to link back to my blog for non commercial purposes. Affiliated links and adds may earn me money, however all ideas and opinions are my own,