Ironically, Copy Chef's first baking post is tied in with my new effort to become more athletic. I've run on the jumping bandwagon... er, I mean, jumped on the running bandwagon. So why am I baking sweet potato muffins? Because olympic athletes eat sweet potatoes! No seriously, I read that in the newspaper. They've all jumped on the sweet potato bandwagon so they can run fast like the Jamaicans (who eat a lot of sweet potatoes). These muffins make me run fast towards the oven.
The inspiration for this recipe came from a lone ripe banana sitting in the kitchen. I wanted to make banana bread, but the recipe always calls for at least two. I also wanted to bake with chai – ever since I made the chai cake from this cookbook I've loved the idea of steeping chai in hot milk (which is basically a chai latte, yum!) to infuse a spicy flavour into baked goods. But what ingredient would fill the void of the missing banana? Sweet potatoes make an excellent match, since they are regularly combined with cinnamon and nutmeg. Chai has those spices, plus ginger, cloves and cardamom, and the sweet potato was happy to make some new friends.
When I bake, I love to pump up the flavour – I mean, I could cry when I eat chocolate cake that doesn't taste chocolatey enough. So in coming up with these muffins, I decided that the chai should have another intense flavour to reckon with, and added a bit of molasses. Whoa! My little muffin is all grown up. She's a complex little thing, tasting like banana bread, sweet potato pie, chai latte and gingerbread cookie, with a little bit of crunch from oats, and an incredibly tender crumb. I didn't know what hit me, but I liked it. Next time I bake these, I'm going to swap out the molasses for maple syrup or honey and see what happens!
Sweet Potato, Banana and Chai Muffins
Yield: about 14 large muffins
½ cup milk
2 chai tea bags
1 cup whole wheat flour
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup oats
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup molasses
2 eggs
½ cup plain Greek yogurt
1 ripe banana, mashed with a fork
1 large sweet potato, peeled and grated
Preheat your oven to 350ºF and place your oven rack in the middle position. Put liners in two muffin trays (you may need more than 12 cups, depending on how big you like your muffins).
Heat the milk in a small saucepan over medium-low heat until it is steaming (do not let it boil) and place the tea bags in the milk. Remove from the stove and allow the chai to steep until the milk cools to room temperature. In a medium bowl, mix together your dry ingredients: whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl, stir the softened butter and brown sugar together with a spatula until they combine and become smooth creamy, then stir in the molasses. Add the eggs and mashed banana and mix very well. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with the spatula and stir in the chai milk and yogurt.
Make sure the wet ingredients look thoroughly combined before adding the dry ingredients. Stir in the dry ingredients, making sure to scrape off any flour that sticks to the side of the bowl. When the ingredients are just combined, gently fold in the grated sweet potato (don’t stir at this point because the batter will get tough!)
Spoon the batter into the muffin cups, filling them all about ¾ of the way up the liners. Bake until they have puffed up and become golden and crispy on top, about 25-30 minutes for large muffins. Test the muffins by inserting a wooden toothpick inside one – if it comes out clean with no batter sticking to it, they’re ready. Remove the pans from the oven and allow them to cool before you eat one (or two, or three…)
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