Sugar Free Banana & Blueberry Muffins with Truvia

This week we seem to have rather a lot of bananas that need eating up. I've no idea why we have more left than usual but I don't think anyone is complaining as over-ripe bananas mean cake. I decided to use some Truvia, calorie free sugar replacement, that I'd been sent in these muffins, and no-one noticed any difference, polishing them off in under 24 hours.

Sugar Free Banana & Blueberry Muffins - makes 12

175g Self Raising Flour

25g Ground Almonds

1 tsp Baking Powder

25g Truvia (or 50g caster sugar)

200g Mashed Banana (2 medium bananas)

2 Eggs, beaten

75ml Sunflower Oil

150 ml Milk

100g Fresh or frozen Blueberries
Sprinkling of Cinnamon

• Mix the flour, almonds, baking powder & Truvia together
• Mix the banana, eggs, oil & milk together, stir in the blueberries
• Add the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients - do not over mix, it should be lumpy
• Divide mixture between muffin cases 
• Sprinkle the tops with a little cinnamon
• Bake in a preheated 180 C oven for 18-20 minutes
• Cool on a wire rack

I was sent some Truvia for use in my baking

The Ultimate Caramel Mochaccino with Tassimo

There's no denying it, I do love a good cup of coffee in the morning. It may be the only cup of the day so I like it to be a good one, usually a strong espresso or a cappuccino made with skimmed or almond milk.

When Tassimo offered to send me one of their machines and a few coffee pods I was more than happy to try it out. 

I received a Tassimo TAS 20xx in black and after having a quick browse through the instructions it was up and running. Fill the tank with water, pop a pod in, close the compartment, press a button and away you go, simple. For cappuccino's and lattes you can pop a milk pod in and out comes hot frothy milk, genius.

You can even dispense hot water, which is very handy for my cups of herbal tea, much quicker than boiling the kettle.

I was challenged by Tassimo to have a play about with my Tassimo and create a unique drink with a twist, so here's mine, which I have named The Ultimate Caramel Mochaccino...

You will need :

Tassimo Machine 
1 x Costa Espresso pod
1 x Costa Milk pod
3 Rolo's
10g Mini chocolate chunks
2 Marshmallows
Squirty Cream
Caramel Sauce, chocolate chunks & Cocoa Powder for decoration (optional)

• Insert the Espresso pod into the Tassimo and dispense into a large mug or heatproof glass
• Stir the Rolo's and chocolate chunks into the hot coffee until dissolved
• Insert the milk pod into the Tassimo and dispense into the glass
• Pop the 2 marshmallows into the frothy milk
• Top with squirty cream and decorate with chosen toppings

This is a lovely rich and creamy drink, of which you couldn't drink many, and I would dread to think of the calorie content. Not something that I would drink every day, I think I'll stick to my Espressso's and save these for very very special occasions! 

I was sent the Tassimo machine for the purpose of review and this challenge