Peanut butter banana dairy free muffins...

I love you.

I do. 

Each and everyone of you. 

I know that, right now, you might not believe me. You might be thinking, "how could that possibly be true?? He doesn't even know me!"... 

Well, just bake these. 

Just bake these (go on, you probably even have all the ingredients to hand)... Then come back and tell me you don't feel loved- I dare you ;) 

These are good. Seriously good. And multi-functional, too. 

Add the glaze and you have a decadent sweet treat, rich enough to rectify even the worst sugar craving, but, leave it off, and you have a (almost) virtuous confection- bursting with the goodness of oats and bananas, and both low in fat and sugar, too! 

In fact, they're even dairy free, and with the gentlest of tweaking, could be made vegan, too. 

Now, really, you couldn't ask for more than that, could you??

So, you need (makes 12): 

Muffins: 

2 Bananas (the worse they look, the better they'll be- trust me!) 
2 Eggs (to make a vegan version, just replace these with another banana) 
125g Peanut Butter (crunchy is my preference for the added texture) 
150g Sugar (brown adds a nice extra flavour, but it really doesn't matter) 
50g Fat (we use Pure) 
250ml "Milk" (we use Kara) 
275g Plain Flour 
50g Oats 
1 tbsp Baking Powder 

Glaze: 

1 extra heaped tbsp* Peanut Butter (smooth for a smooth glaze, if preferred) 
1 extra heaped tbsp* Fat (Pure, again!) 
2 tbsp* golden syrup 
6 extra heaped tbsp* icing sugar 

Start the muffins: 

Preheat the oven to 190c (really preheat it- it makes a difference!). 

Line a 12 hole muffin tin. 

In one large bowl, mash the bananas together with the sugar, eggs, peanut butter and melted fat. Then stir in the milk. 

In another large bowl, combine the flour, oats and baking powder. 

Now, fold the dry ingredients in to the wet (or vice-versa, depending on which is the larger bowl!). 

Stir this gently, and do it by hand- over-mixing will make the muffins tough and heavy. Stop as soon as the flour has been incorporated (but don't worry about the odd streak left here and there- it'll bake out). 

Bake for 18-24 mins (in my oven, it's 19 exactly!) until a tester comes out clean. 

Leave to cool. 

Once cool(-ish), start making the glaze. 

Glaze: 

*I've listed the measurements for the glaze as tablespoons, but, unlike the muffin recipe, I don't mean the real, 15ml tablespoon. Here, just use the big spoon you would eat with! 

I am bad and wicked and evil, so I use a microwave for this step- just adapt the directions to suit your preferences. 

In a medium bowl, melt together the peanut butter, fat and golden syrup. Once melted, stir in the icing sugar, and give it a good beating to remove any lumps (of icing sugar- you'll be beating a long time if you're trying to beat out the nuts from the peanut butter!). 

You should end up with a thick, glossy, spreadable glaze. 

Top each muffin with a dollop and spread with the back of a spoon. 

 Now eat (as with all muffins, there are best the day they're made). 

 r@a*r