Awesome banana muffins

At this time of year, despite the fact the temperatures in Cyprus reach about 19c, our army housing is bitterly cold. We have no central heating and rely on a wood burning stove (which we bought) and three military issued oil filled radiators. We are pretty used to living like this, but it does mean the kitchen and bathroom and always very cold.

Another of the joys of our army house is that we also have a spectacularly inefficient gas oven, which has to pre-heat for at least half an hour to even start to generate any sort of respectable internal heat. The cold kitchen and the inefficient oven actually make pretty good companions, if you time it well, you can have the oven running for most of the afternoon and evening just to cook supper and do some baking and most of the gas that's burnt warms the room, not the food.

So this afternoon I decided to make some muffins, mostly just to have an excuse to heat the kitchen. I found this recipe, which is fool proof, quick and produces fantastic results. I added chocolate chips and I think walnuts would also work well. If you have half an hour to spare, a hungry husband or a cold kitchen, give them a go.