This recipe is largely inspired by the sweet tahini crunch at the heart of east-London bakery Farha’s mega-selling banana brulee pastry. The savoury depth of tahini tempers the heady, perfumed sweetness of ripe bananas, which can be a little cloying, and also works well with the deep caramel notes of Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference medjool dates and the brown butter.
Prep 20 min
Cook 30 min
Serves 12
100g unsalted butter
150g Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference medjool dates, pitted and finely chopped
5 tbsp Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Jersey whole milk
200g Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Scottish whole rolled jumbo oats
4 large ripe bananas, peeled
60g soured cream
1 tsp Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Madagascan vanilla extract
2 Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference free range golden yolk eggs
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp ground cinnamon
3 tbsp tahini
3 tbsp Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Canadian maple syrup
Crumble topping
1 tbsp Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Scottish whole rolled jumbo oats
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp demerara cane sugar
12 Sainsbury’s cafe style muffin cases
To start, heat the oven to 180C (160C fan)/350F/gas 4 and line a 12 hole muffin tin with your muffin cases.
Add the butter to a small saucepan over a medium heat, and let it melt. Once melted, increase the heat to high and stir the butter regularly as it starts to brown. Once it begins to smell nutty, remove from the heat, pour into a large mixing bowl and leave aside to cool.
Return the pan to a medium heat with the milk and the chopped medjool dates. Cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring often, or until the dates have softened completely. Leave aside to cool.
Meanwhile, blend your oats in a high speed blender until you have a fine powder – this is your oat flour.
Mash the bananas and browned butter in a bowl until smooth. Stir in the soured cream, vanilla extract, eggs and date mixture. Now mix in the oat flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, cinnamon and a pinch of salt until well combined. Leave for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, mix your crumble topping in another bowl.
Divide the batter between the muffin cases. Drizzle the tahini over the top of each one and use a skewer to swirl into the batter. Sprinkle the crumble topping over the muffins then put into the oven to bake for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the muffins comes out clean.
Remove from the oven. Drizzle the maple syrup evenly across the muffins then leave aside to cool in the tin.
With thanks to Farha, 42 Leyton High Road, London E15 2BP
Shop the full range of Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference ingredients
• Watch the full episode of FEED with Jimi Famurewa on YouTube and the Guardian
