Bananna and pecan muffins with cream cheese and molasses frosting

Last night Mercer and I went to a friends house to cook dinner for her and her teenage kids but when I say 'we' cooked I meant 'I' cooked, as Mercer's Idea of cooking is cheese and marmite on toast or a anything with salad cream and BBQ sauce but that's another story for another day.
I decided to make the slow cooked beef and spinach balti curry that I was supposed to make a few days back but never got to and for pudding I made some banana and pecan muffins with a very delicious cream cheese and molasses frosting which were so so good. I stole the basis for the recipe from Nigella Lawson's Banana Bread recipe but just separated it in to muffin cases and added the frosting and I am so glad I added the frosting.

100g sultanas
75ml bourbon or dark rum
175g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
125g unsalted butter, melted
150g molasses sugar
2 large eggs
4 small, very ripe bananas (about 300g weighed without skin), mashed
Muffin cases
1 pack of cream cheese
extra molasses sugar to make frosting with


Put the sultanas and rum or bourbon in a smallish saucepan and bring to the boil.
Remove from the heat, cover and leave for an hour if you can, or until the sultanas have absorbed most of the liquid, then drain.
Preheat the oven to 170ºC/gas mark 3 and get started on the rest. Put the flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt in a medium-sized bowl and, using your hands or
a wooden spoon, combine well.
In a large bowl, mix the melted butter and sugar and beat until blended. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then the mashed bananas. Then, with your wooden spoon, stir in the walnuts, drained sultanas and vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture, a third at a time, stirring well after each bit. Then scoop a spoonful in to your muffin cases until it's used up and place in the oven on the middle shelf and leave for around 15-20 Min's or until springy in the middle. When they are in the oven mix your cream cheese and add your molasses sugar a little at a time and I think it's totally up to you how much you use! The good thing about molasses sugar is that it dissolves very quickly and makes a sumptuous glossy frosting.
Let the muffins cool before using a palate knife to spread the frosting on top of the muffins or if you prefer slice them open and put the frosting inside which is what I would have chosen to do but they had not risen enough!



I am afraid the icing does have a few bit's of unmelted molasses in it but never mind! And my brother has taken his camera back to use for a few days so the photo quality is not fantastic but you get the idea.