Bloggers Rendezvous & Best Chocolate Banana Muffins

Okay, as if you have not read enough of it, here I am, giving it a go too, hahaha. :D On this fine afternoon, 11 lady bloggers sharing a common passion, took the time & trouble, arriving from near and far, to rendezvous in MidValley's Madam Kwan restaurant. A meeting that one would not trade for anything. Being the only Singaporean, I did not feel left out at all. These ladies were warm like daisies and sunshine! It was only minutes that we finally clicked and the rest was pure enjoyment of nice company and food. So I could not agree more with the rest of the ladies that has already blogged about it, how great it was to meet up these new friends which in fact we have known each other for quite awhile online.

In the photo from the left : Tracie, Quinn, Joslynn, Reese, Myself, Swee San, Sonia, Elin, Getrude & Pei-Lin

First and foremost, thanks Quinn for taking the trouble to organize this gathering for us. Of course with everyone's effort, this meeting went smoothly. So I really have to thank everyone for their precious time and their gifts. Interested to find out more who is who and which blog is whose? Check it out below:

• Sweet Tracie's blog: Bitter Sweet Flavours
• Lively and cheery Quinn's blog: Quinn's baking diary
• Gentle Joslynn who misses Singapore : A Nyonya's kitchen for all season
• My good buddy Reese : ReeseKitchen
  
• Young entrepreneur Swee San : The Sweet Spot
  
• Generous and friendly Sonia- Nasi Lemak Lover
• Great Mom who brought her daughter along, Elin : Elinluv's Tidbits corner
• Gertrude, all the way from Pennsylvania : My Kitchen Snippets
• The camera-pro Pei-Lin: Dodol & Mochi

I believe I am the last person that blog about this event...last but not least! Anyway, do drop by the above blogs to check out their wonderful blogs. ;)

Just yesterday my FIL came home with a big bunch of already ripen bananas. Nothing wrong with that of course, just that with all that CNY cookies still "hanging around"...those bananas suddenly doesn't look all that attractive. Again I took the opportunity to turn this nutritious fruit into a delectable banana desert....and not letting it go to waste of course. I know, I know, another muffin recipe?!? I promise this is the last for this month, hahaha! :) But you know what, I made Chocolate Banana Muffins....one of the best I have ever made, serious! :D

Ingredients for Chocolate Banana Muffins (makes about 12)
250g unsalted butter, room temp
200g caster sugar
5 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
300g cake flour
1.5 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt
80g unsweetened cocoa powder
200ml fresh milk
300g very ripe banana flesh, mashed
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 ripe bananas, peeled and cut into 2 cm in length, dust in 1 tbsp of all purpose flour

Method:

• Cream the butter and sugar together till light and fluffy.
• Then crack in one egg at a time and mix well before adding another.
• Add vanilla extract and stir well.
• Sift the cake flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Then add in 1/4 of this flour mixture into the egg mixture and mix well. Then add 1/3 of the milk in. Repeat this until all the flour and milk has been added in and mixed in.
  
• Add in the mashed bananas and stir well. Then sift in the cocoa powder and again blend well. Lastly stir in the chocolate chips.
• Preheat the oven to 180°C.
• Scoop the batter in to the muffin paper liners to about 3/4 full. Then insert a banana wedge into the middle of the muffin. Repeat till all the batter has been used.
• Bake in the oven for 25 minutes or till the tester comes out clean.

These muffins are so moist and tender, literally melt in your mouth once you bite into it. The cake is mildly sweet on it's own, but with the ripe bananas inside, it's perfect. As you might have noticed, I actually stuffed 2 chunks of bananas into the muffin before baking....the more the merrier! The bits of chocolates in the muffin also compliments the overall taste. This is best eaten when it is still warm. ;P Highly recommended, do try!