Ultimate Banana Muffin<---how can i stay slim this way?

lately i've been craving for a sinful chocolate cakes and muffins..REALLY REALLY fluffy muffins doesn't matter what kind so long that its fluffy ...the story behind this muffin cravings is that last week i went to a flea market in cyberjaya street mall and there was this lady who sells really light n fluffy muffins and its also moist at the same time! the week before that i went there and bought some muffins and last week i was late and her muffins are all sold out and she was packing her stuff already.

i missed her muffins last week hence my craving for muffins arghhhhhhhh~~~~

anyway i went to the wet market this morning after a rather eleborate meeting with my son's preschool teacher <---this is a long story i'll blog about it later . so i was in the market wanting to buy some grated coconut and coconut milk then i saw this huge yam and beside it there's this beautiful banana (pisang emas literally translated as gold banana) its beautiful in shape and its ripeness is just right, just right for baking or making any traditional kueh. and i thought to myself i've got to have it and banana muffin came to mind. that and i also have to have that yam coz its also unusually large and fresh looking spud so i bought that but i have no idea what am i going to do with it yet but i've cleaned,cut and dice the spud. boiled it and keep it frozen until i finally decided what to do with it.... anyhow...in my search of fluffy recipes i failed to find one all somehow turned out to be dense and rather heavy<---this is even when i hand mix to avoid over mixing...now i wonder why... with frustration of failing to get the perfect recipe i decided to call a friend of mine Pastry Chef Roslee or was it Rosly sorry mate m not sure of your spelling. We had a long chat and he refresh my memory about lavenings, flours etc....(bare in mind although i AM a certified pastry chef but i do not practise only at home, had a year of internship and thats about it...) after that fruitful chat, i put my chef hat on and start my muffin making experiment...and with LUCK i have baked the ULTIMATE and may i say PURRRRRRRRFECT muffins although i do imitate lydia's style of decorating the muffin ;) hope you dun mind.

what you need : (A)

2 c low protein flour/pastry flour
3/4 c caster sugar <--if you were to add the chocolate chunks reduce this slightly

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt

(B)

1 cup mashed ripe banana (since pisang emas is a very small and cute banana it takes almost the whole bunch) 1/2 cup melted butter 2 eggs 90ml fresh milk

100g chopped milk chocolate <---i add this as i so happen to have some left overs

50g crushed hazelnuts

and some whole hazelnut for decoration

Directions

1. preheat oven at 180c.
   
2. in a mixing bowl, mix all dry ingredients together
3. in a different bowl mix melted butter, banana, chopped chocolates,crushed hazelnuts and milk together
4. meanwhile beat the eggs until fluffy then fold in with the other wet ingredients
5. make a well in the dry ingredients mixture then pour in the wet mixture and gently fold in and mix until just combine few lumps is forgiven.
6. AVOID over mixing as it'll make it dense and somewhat dry and oily <--wierd combination huh? but thats how it'll be so try not to mix it more than 5 strokes.
7. then use ice cream scoop to scoop in the mixture into muffin tin
   
8. decorate it with a slice of banana and a single hazelnut on top and bake for 20 minutes or until done

i will explain about types of flour and its usage and other stuff later in my next entry