Poppy Seed Banana Muffins

After last week´s success with my home-baked plum cocoa strudel, Tom (with his mouth still full) repetitively encouraged me to keep on baking :) I know how much he loves poppy seeds, and since I didn't want to roll another one of his favorite poppy seed strudels, I decided to go inventive.
A month ago, as one of my B-day presents, my sister gave me a 'Poppy Seed Cookbook' - a little pocket-sized cookbook that she wrote and decorated on her own .




Oh, Gabi, do you have any idea how much I love you? ... big hugs.



(The title is untranslatable. Play on words... It pretty much says 'Poppy'.. in a funny way. Poppy = MAK in Slovak)

Why poppy seeds, you ask? Well, you cannot go more traditional in Slovakian sweet cuisine. The poppy seeds have been my little friends ever since I could eat :) They are crunchy, nutritous and cheap. When I was a kid, we had poppy seeds in/on everything and I never said no...
I have been wanting to bake woth those again, but.... the only 'problem' was that all the traditional Slovak recipes (also featured in my Poppy cookbook) are extremely rich in flour, sugar, fat, milk and eggs, which are things I don´t enjoy any more. BUT! ... I decided to go inventive, remember?
I took one of the recipes (below.. ehm... in Slovakian :))














substituted milk for soy milk, 2 eggs for 1 mashed banana, flour for whole grain spelt meal and sugar for brown sugar (amount decreased by 1/3).... and decided to make muffins instead of a pie.... Wait a minute. Now that I look at it, the only thing that really remained 'according to the recipe' was the poppy seeds :) So, I guess I just invented my very first family of:














VEGAN POPPY SEED BANANA MUFFINS:

spice ladder: none

makes: 6 muffins
prep time: 1 hour

• 100 g poppy seeds
• 2oo ml soy milk
• 100 g margarine
• 100 g brown sugar
• 1 ripe mashed banana
• 100 g flour
• 100g spelt whole grain flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder

* Thinly sliced fresh fruit as garnish. If you decide to use one, use the sour kind like sour apple, plum grapes,... (I used plums for half and sqeezed some lemon juice on top of the rest). Sour fruits and poppy seeds go really well together, for they 'lift up' the mildness of the seeds.

So,... first the hard labor. Grind the poppy seeds in mortar.... I know, it took me about 20 minutes, one tablespoon at a time. Of course you can use spice grinder instead or just by pre-grinded poppy seed paste if available (not here, anyway).

Update (August 4th) :
My laziness made me ground only a half of the poppy amount. Rest of it remained uncrushed. Result? Even more crunchiness. the seeds were crunching under my teeth, great!!! Next time I ll skip grinding at all...

Then, heat up half of the soy milk in a pan and when hot, add the ground poppy seeds. Stir well, let the seeds absorb the milk and 'fluff up'. (This is a traditional Slovak method, also referred to as 'steaming the poppy'). Set aside.
While still hot, mix in the other half of the soy milk, sugar, margarine and the rest. You should have a consistency of a thick batter. Pour (or rather scoop) this mixture into the muffin forms (should make about 6) and decorate the top with sliced sour fruit (if using).
Place onto the lowest rack in the oven pre-heated to 180 degrees Celsius and bake for 20 minutes or until brownish....
You know the muffins are done when a toothpick pierced through the dough comes out clean.

Enjoy the softness and crunchiness !!!


















This is my contribution to Wonder Sophie´s Muffin Monday. What a great idea, gals, thanx for all the nostalgy, I was thrilled to taste the poppy seeds again, after such a looong time.