Sourdough elephants

I am trying really hard to minimise the amount of rubbish I produce. I recycle as much as I can and re-use where possible. Throwing away sourdough starter every week when I feed it bugs me, so I've been looking for ways to use it. I recently discovered sourdough pancakes, which are delicious; the old sourdough gives them a sort of banana-ish flavour.

This week I thought I'd see what happened if I baked  some sourdough pancake batter, with additions (spices and fruit), in muffin cups.

What happened was a lesson in muffin basics. If you develop the gluten in muffins (usually by over-mixing, but in this case by leaving wet for a week), you get little volcanoes. My volcanoes were extreme, with the "lava" overflowing and pouring onto the baking tray. One strategically placed sultana turned its muffin into an elephant:

They tasted fine though, and I quite like tough muffins.