Banana Crumb Muffins

These muffins are a delicious treat in the morning with your tea or coffee :) The crumble top is the key!

1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 bananas mashed (brown bananas are the best)
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup melted butter
1/3 cup backed brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp cinammon

Crumble:
2 Tbs. flour
1/8 tsp cinammon
1 Tbs. butter

Preheat oven at 375' F
Grease or use muffin cups for a dozen muffins
Mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
In a seperate bowl, whisk together bananas, sugar, egg, and melted butter.  Whisk this into the flour mixture and pour into muffin cups.

For the crumble in a seperate small bowl, use two knives or pastry cutter to cut butter into flour and cinnammon.  (The more solid the butter the easier this is).  Sprinkle on top of each muffin.  Bake in oven for 18-20 min. 

Banana Oat Muffins

Overripe bananas: they're a little scary looking, and honestly quite disgusting when you open them, but they are the perfect motivation for making a baked treat. I love banana bread, and make it often, when I have three or more overripe bananas. This week I only had two, so I figured I'd have to mix it up a bit.

I found a recipe for banana oat muffins on allrecipes.com, the website I usually start with when looking for a good base recipe I can adapt for my pantry. I found a simple recipe with good reviews, and it looked super easy to make. I am sure you can substitute as you like with the recipe posted here as well. A good rule of thumb - if you're not down with sugar or oil, just use applesauce instead, and a little brown sugar. You can also incorporate yogurt or sour cream in lieu of milk or oil. Get creative, have fun, banana muffins are very forgiving. (Also check out our other banana recipes: Nana's Banana Bread, Banana, Pecan, Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins, and Best Oatmeal )

Banana Oat Muffins

~Print Recipe~

What's in it

1 1/2 C flour (you can do half whole wheat, half unbleached)

1 C oats

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 C sugar (you can mix and match brown and white)

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

cinnamon

1 egg, lightly beaten

3/4 C milk (I used almond breeze)

1/3 C oil (or applesauce - I grated an overripe apple into it)

1 C mashed ripe banana

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

optional: chopped walnuts, chocolate chips

How it's made

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line cupcake/muffin pan with paper liners or spray with oil. (Recipe makes a baker's dozen.)

In a large mixing bowl, combine the first 7 (dry) ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix the remaining ingredients until combined. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and mix until just combined. Using the 1/4 C measuring cup, scoop batter into muffin pan, almost full. Bake 18-20 min until done.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

 

One of my favorite cookie recipes (yes, it's from Martha Stewart's Cookies, big surprise, I know) is for banana chocolate chip cookies. They are an amazing--I would even say inspired--combination of banana bread and a chocolate chip cookie. You literally taste both in every bite, and it is a delectable experience. (I am surprised that I haven't posted that recipe on this site yet, but I will.) 

I do like to try new recipes rather than dwell on old ones, though. So when I came across a recipe for banana chocolate chip muffins, I felt like it was a legitimate new recipe to try, even though it thoroughly satisfied my banana chocolate chip complex. (I found the original recipe in Food & Wine, to which I have a free (!) subscription. The subscription came with the purchase of my Kitchen Aid stand mixer---a "wedding" present of sorts from my mother, back when she knew I was about to be engaged, even though I didn't find out for another 3 months. People around here can really keep a secret!) Since my dear friend Brittany loves the banana chocolate chip cookies as much as I do, I thought I'd bring an adapted version of these muffins for her last day at work. 

Fresh out of the oven, these are amazing--a good cake-y texture, with big banana-y flavor and gooey melted chocolate oozing throughout. If you aren't serving them right away, consider reheating them just before serving. The warmth really highlights the flavors and the texture. Toasted pecans are, as far as I'm concerned, an essential addition either way. 

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

~Print Recipe~

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted
• 3 large, overripe bananas, mashed
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup toasted pecans

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with liners. In a large bowl, combine the sugar, melted butter, bananas and eggs. Mix thoroughly.
2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Whisk to combine. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until the batter is combined.
3. Stir in chocolate chips and toasted pecans.
4. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for about 28 minutes, until a tester inserted into the middle comes out with a few moist crumbs. Cool muffins for 10 minutes in pan on rack. Enjoy warm, or allow to cool completely and store in an airtight container.

Makes 12 muffins

Easy Honey Cornbread Muffins

I LOVE cornbread, especially when it's sweetened with honey.

Over the years I've made a lot of cornbread that was just ok. There are two recipes that I like, Marie Callendar's mix and this one.

Easy Honey Cornbread

~Print Recipe~

1 cup cornmeal
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup frozen corn, defrosted
1 cup milk*
2 eggs
1/2 stick butter, melted
1/3 cup honey

Whisk the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Beat the wet ingredients together and combine with dry. Don't over mix but make sure all everything is incorporated.

Portion into a greased muffin tin and bake for about 15 minutes at 400 degrees. Try not to use paper cupcake liners. The crust is one of the best parts.

*I never have milk in my house, but I almost always have half and half. So I use 1/2 cup 1/2&1/2 and 1/2 cup rice milk. Pretty much anything milk-like works. Just be aware of the fat content. This recipe is based on a whole fat milk, soy and rice milks usually have less fat.

Moosewood Muffin Madness

There's nothing like the smell of fresh baked muffins - any time of day. Usually I try to have bananas on hand all the time for cereal, and when they overripe, they go into banana bread. Today I tried out the Moosewood muffin recipe, instead of my standard banana bread, and it looks great! It's nice because there is a standard base, and then you can add whatever variation you want to make your muffin flavor. It also could be made vegan fairly easily by using egg substitute.

What's in it
Wet ingredients:

2 eggs

1/2 C vegetable oil

3/4- 1 C brown sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

Dry ingredients:

2 C flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Additional variations 

(must have one of these along with the wet and dry ingredients):

Apple: Add 2 C grated tart apples and 1 tsp fresh lemon zest to wet ingredients.  Add 1/2 tsp cinnamon to dry ingredients.  Optional: fold in chopped walnuts or pecans into batter.

Banana: Add 1 1/2 C mashed ripe bananas to wet ingredients.  Optional: Fold in chopped nuts or chocolate chips into batter. 

Blueberry-Lemon: Add 1/2 C fresh or frozen blueberries and 1 Tbls fresh lemon zest to wet ingredients.

Zucchini: Add 2 C grated zucchini to wet ingredients, and 1 tsp of cinnamon and 1/2 tsp of ground cardamom to dry ingredients.  Fold 1/2 C raisins or currants, and 3/4 C chopped nuts if you like, into batter.

How it's Made

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl, combine wet ingredients.  In small bowl, combine dry ingredients.  Add appropriate variation ingredients to wet or dry ingredients.  Stir dry ingredients into wet until just combined.  Fold in additional ingredients if necessary.

Spoon batter into oiled standard muffin tins (makes 12), and bake for 20-25 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.  If using mini muffin pans, bake 10-15 minutes.