Banana Crumb Muffins

When I woke up yesterday morning, one of the first things I noticed was a bunch of bananas in the kitchen - all ripe with speckles at the same time (I'm sure you've had this experience). I know I could have peeled and frozen them and made smoothies some other time, but this day I had a rare pre-coffee burst of energy that led me to muffin making. (I don't know about you, but I'm bound not to have another one of those for quite some time, so I seized the moment). I even tried to make healthier muffins so I could justify having cake for breakfast (come on, who are we kidding?). They came out great (a bit darker from the whole wheat flour and coconut sugar, but still, sweet, banana-y and moist with some nice crunch on top). I wonder if I baked cookie dough in a waffle iron if I could get everyone to agree that's okay for breakfast? I could call them wookies. On second thought, I don't think I have the resources to take on George Lucas.

BANANA CRUMB MUFFINS

Yield: 10 muffins

1 1/2 cups flour (I used 1 cup whole wheat pastry + 1/2 cup all-purpose)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon fine salt

3 medium ripe bananas, mashed

3/4 cup sugar (I used coconut sugar)

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/3 cup melted butter or oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Crumb Topping:

1/3 cup packed brown sugar (I used coconut sugar)

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon butter

1.      Preheat oven to 375º F. 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, melted butter (or oil), vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg.

4.      Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.

5.      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.

6.      Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

slightly adapted from allrecipes.com by Lisa Kreft

ripe bananas
(If they don't have speckles yet, I throw them back.)

mashing the bananas

mashed bananas

adding coconut sugar

It doesn't take anything like coconut, more like brown sugar.

It's lower on the glycemic index than white sugar, so
you might not have to take that post-breakfast,
pre-lunch nap you usually have after your pancakes.

mashed bananas, wet ingredients, sugar and spices

adding the banana mixture to the flour mixture
(Obviously if you use regular sugar, yours won't be so dark.)

banana batter

filling the muffin cups (about 80% full)

crumb topping ingredients

crumb topping ready to sprinkle

sprinkling crumb topping on top of the muffins

ready to bake

baked

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