Figure 1 Assorted Muffins Image Source: Muffin

Simple delightful energy packed little parcels of palate pleasing goodness basically says pretty much what these banana crumble muffins are all about. So without further ado let’s get to it.

Banana Muffin Batter Ingredients

• 1½ Cups of Plain All-Purpose Flour
• ¾ Cup of White Sugar
• 1/3 Cup of Butter
• 3 Bananas
• 1 Egg
• 1 Teaspoon each of Baking Powder and Baking Soda
• ½ Teaspoon of ground Sea Salt

Crumble Topping Ingredients

• 1/3 Cup of Packed Brown Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons of All-Purpose Flour
• 1 Tablespoon of Butter
• 1/8 Tablespoon of Ground Cinnamon

Method

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) with an oven rack center height (ready for the muffin tray) then lightly grease 10 muffin cups. You can use a non-stick cooking spray if you wish or you might even line the muffin cups with paper muffin cups.
2. Myself I like to lightly grease the muffin cups and use paper muffin cups as well since this seems to be the most reliable way of preventing sticking and also makes it really easy to include a muffin or two in a cut lunch to take to work, school, day care or any outing generally
3. Peel and mash the bananas, melt the butter and lightly beat the egg
4. Take a large mixing bowl and add in the 1½ cups of plain all-purpose flour, the baking soda, the baking powder and the ground sea salt. Mix these ingredients well.
5. In another bowl add in the mashed bananas, the white sugar, the egg and the melted butter and beat these ingredients together
6. Now gradually stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture until the batter is just moistened. You are now ready to transfer the banana muffin batter to the prepared muffin cups so spoon out roughly equal portions (one tenth per muffin cup) to each of the 10 prepared muffin cups.
7. Now take a small mixing bowl and mix together the brown sugar, the cinnamon and the 2 tablespoons of flour. Once mixed cut in the 1 tablespoon of butter until the mixture somewhat reassembles coarse cornmeal. Once ready sprinkle roughly equal portions of this crumbly topping over the top of the banana muffin batter already in the muffin cups.
8. Put the muffin tray onto the centrally located oven rack and bake muffins for 20 minutes. To verify that the muffins are ready, insert a toothpick into the center of a muffin and then withdraw it. If the toothpick comes out clean the muffins are done.
9. Place muffin tray on a wire rack to cool for a bit then pop the muffins out of the muffin cups. This is when the light greasing and lining of the muffin cups with paper muffin liners pays dividends. Anyway place the muffins onto the wire rack as you take them out of the muffin cups.

Serving:

At this point you may start consuming the muffins or let them cool fully before placing them into an airtight container. As already noted this recipe will yield 10 standard sized banana crumble muffins.

If being included as part of a cut lunch to take to work, school, day care etc the muffins will keep best if left in their paper muffin cup liners and wrapped in plastic cling wrap.

On occasions the inclusion of crushed nuts mixed into the topping provides a nice variation. A little peanut butter included in both the banana muffin batter and the topping also provides a pleasant surprise as does the inclusion of some honey into the banana muffin batter.

These banana crumble muffins are loaded with energy so they do make an ideal mid morning or mid afternoon snack to revitalize your energy resources to tackle the rest of the day. Enjoy!!!