banana crumb muffins

Well hi! Sometimes I blog four times in a week, sometimes once in two weeks and sometimes been quiet for the whole month. Duhh I’m a terrible blogger. I’m indeed not busy with my study – I baked about 70 cupcakes, 4 layered-cakes and more desserts over the last month (which I've never did before and please-don’t-be –too- proud-of-that). Pheww. No, those weren't for me, but was a very beginner as a so-called part-time baker :) I've started a sort of adults’ plan on saving money for school and even for the future. Well done well done.

Here’s the picture of my favorite guys. The small yellowing ones are freshly from the backyard. The ugly ones are from the local store nearby. I bought them few days ago and left them on the counter and intentionally let them to overripe. Yes. What?  Is that the ugliest tablecloth you ever seen?

I did mentioned over here that over-ripe banana are good for making baked goods as they are soft enough for you to mash them like unkind-heartily. Here once again, I want to admit; I love banana. Just banana. I’m not a fruit lover but at least it’s the only fruit that I can eat the whole bunch in two sittings(?). I do love banana bread or anything banana-y and go crazy for banana ice-cream. You may guess why – I love them because they are so quick and easy to make and taste amazing with delicate crumbs, have good smells and naturally fair sweet. I’ve seen so many banana muffins like weekly on the blogs that I was following, but they can’t ever be more attractive – Some are naked but bold and some are ‘crumbed’ but still sexy. I admit, these Banana Crumb Muffins are really new to me and I didn't know that this kind of muffin does exist (boo!).

What are they all about? They are just your typical banana bread but topped with mini-pop-corn-like crumbs which are a magic mix of brown sugar, flour, butter and ground cinnamon that yield a delectable crunchy crumb topping. Wait. Cinnamon? Oh my oh my, they smell good! Really good while baked in the oven in your cakes, muffins, breads, etc. Plus, they give you that extra original flavor which makes you crave more and more for something healthy like these. Trust me; you’ll later regret if you were afraid of sprinkling extra crumbs over your muffins! Well said, that just happened to me.

I did take photos (I mean a loooot of photos) of those cakes I've baked on the last month which I truly have the intention to share the amazing recipes here. But I didn't  And I don’t know why. So let just see if that happen later. . .

Banana Crumb Muffins

adapted from allrecipes

ingredients

for the banana muffins:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large bananas, mashed
3/4 cup white sugar (or coarse sugar)
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup butter, melted (I substituted with cooking oil but vegetable oil will be fine too)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

for the crumb topping:

1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter

method

1. Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). Lightly grease 10 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.

2. In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

3. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.

4. In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.

5. Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

Notes:

• I used those over-ripened pisang berangan and added another half piece of it to make my muffins extra banana-y!
• If you don’t love sweet, you can reduce the sugar amount to ½ cup because bananas here are readily sweet. However, this recipe yields a fine sweetness.
• If your crumbs get sticky because of excess butter, add some more flour and mix again by your finger until you get something like ‘bread-crumbs’ (refer picture above)
• Remember: Don’t be afraid to sprinkle all the crumbs over your muffins, that’s what makes the muffins extraordinary delicious!
• I baked my muffins for 17 minutes at 180 C (just remember that every oven varies in temperature and banana muffins can be over-baked quickly).
• And fyi, I usually watch closely and check my muffins (and cupcakes) around 10 minutes. If a few DRY crumbs come out with the inserted toothpick, it means they are already done so you don’t have to increase the baking time.

Enjoy!

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