Banana & Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

I was sorting through some magazines earlier today and came across a Mary Berry recipe suplement.
I skimmed through and saw a recipe for Banana and Chocolate Cupcakes. Now this is not normally a combination that I particularly like, however, I had a couple of ripe bananas so decided I would give it try.
I must say it's very easy to put everything into a bowl and beat!
This was the end result

Banana & Choc Chip Cupcakes
Mary Berry Recipe
Makes 12

100g (4oz) butter softened (can use marg)
2 eggs
175g (6oz) castor sugar
225g (8oz) self-raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 tablespoons milk
2 very ripe bananas mashed
50g (2 oz) choc chips

For Icing
50g(2oz) dark choc melted

Pre-heat oven 180C/160C(fan)/ gas 4.
Line muffin tin with paper cases.

Method
butter,eggs,castor sugar,flour,baking powder, milk & bananas in bowl beat together until combined and smooth  Mix in choc chips
Spoon into paper cases and bake for about 25 mins until well risen, golden brown and shrinking from cases.
Cool  Drizzle choc in zigzag pattern.
Freeze well for up to 3 months.

Tunisia # 6 Tozeur an oasis

Tozeur is an oasis town on the edge of the Sahara, we only spent a couple of nights here, we arrived late afternoon and this is my first view of the pool at our hotel. I managed to fit in a swim the following afternoon. In fact one of the things that we found frustrating was there was never enough time to use all the facilities in the hotel, because of the planned visits.

Our first morning was spent taking a carriage ride into the oasis. It was interesting to see dates, bananas and pomegranates growing, but it was pretty obvious this was another money making venture for the locals. It was very small scale compared to the hugely productive business where most of countryside is covered in olive and palm trees. We drove for hours and that was all you could see on either side of the road.

The young lad gave a demonstration of how they climbed the trees bared footed.

The bananas grown here are much smaller than the ones from other parts of the world and they are not as sweet.

We did get pomegranate in the hotels.

I have never really been fond of dates but these small fresh dates are so delicious I was eating a few every day and I brought some home. We were told that in the fridge they would last until Christmas but I don't somehow think ours will be around that long. In fact there are only a few left!

Archives:
2008: Ben's Tune
2007: New Awards for Moi
2006: Window Repairs