These Banana Bread Muffins are strong on banana flavor, ultra-moist, dense, hearty, dotted with pecans, and most excitingly, topped with a thick layer of buttery, brown sugar, cinnamon-spiced streusel! Whew. That was a lot. These Banana Bread Muffins are easy and fuss-free to whip up, but give you bakery-style muffins right at home!
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Word on the internet/social media (normally we’d say “street,” right? But no one is out and about right now…. if you are, go home!) is that banana bread recipes are going viral lately. A lot of blogger friends are reporting that their recipe for banana bread is exploding.
I’m not personally experiencing that, but it happens that I have a new banana bread recipe to contribute to the mix, these Streusel-Topped Banana Bread Muffins.
Now that we’re all living the quarantine life, are you baking more?? If so, what are you making? I’ve gathered that lots of people are stress-baking! I understand this because I partly started my baking hobby as a stress-reliever too. I didn’t realize it was a common thing to “stress-bake.”
I originally became a baker because it was a fun way to spend time with my family, my Mom and Gma. Later in life though, I developed a larger passion because it was an outlet for stress. It really took hold in law school. If I had spare time, I was baking while watching “Friends,” and that’s pretty much how I spent any free moment those three years.
I am a person that thrives on productivity, and for me, baking is a way to feel productive. I can make something from nothing in a short amount of time, and that gives me a sense of accomplishment. I can see how that would be helpful to a lot of people right now too!
It makes sense that banana bread is a current go-to. Every household needs a favorite banana bread recipe. Before I started expanding my recipe box, I made banana bread almost weekly. Maybe 3x/month… I made it a lot. I would change it up quite a bit too — muffins, mini bundt, add chocolate chips, add walnuts or pecans, whatever. So many ways to make banana bread.
I tried sooo many recipes for banana bread, and once I found The One, I really have not strayed from it. I found it in Cosmo magazine, of all places, in 2009. Who finds recipes in Cosmo??? Second of all, I am shocked that I was still reading Cosmo in 2009.
I can’t remember the last time I picked up that magazine, and I kinda thought I dropped it from my rotation around 2002. I really hope it was an anomaly and that maybe I was reading it at a doctor’s office or something.
I Googled it and the Cosmo article was called “Cooking For Your Man.” Isn’t that so cringe-worthy?
What’s also funny about this… a few of my Mom’s classic, favorite recipes are from Seventeen magazine. She tore them out of an article called “Baking With a Boy” when she was a teenager. For example, her Chocolate Scotcheroos recipe was from that article, and also her perfect Apple Pie recipe! I guess some things don’t change a whole lot.
So these Streusel-Topped Banana Bread Muffins are adapted from my favorite Banana Bread recipe, which, incidentally, isn’t even on the blog. Though this Blueberry Banana Bread recipe is pretty much it.
The recipe makes one ENORMOUS loaf, two smaller loaves, OR 18 muffins, like here. Pretty good-sized muffins, so you can get a bakery-style muffin right at home.
These Banana Bread Muffins are strong on banana, ultra-moist, and dense, but still soft. I usually go for walnuts in banana bread, but because these muffins have a streusel, I went with pecans. I feel like pecan streusel is superior to walnut streusel. Thoughts?
Where these Banana Bread Muffins especially shine is, in fact, with the streusel topping. I am starting to deck out ALL quick breads, muffins, and the like (even a Pumpkin Cheesecake) with streusel. I never don’t want streusel.
It’s so easy, so I feel like there’s no good reason not to include it. Some streusel requires cutting in cold butter which is a major PITA and deterrent, but the streusel that I use calls for melted butter instead. A whole bowl of streusel comes together with just a little bit of stirring. Fuss-free.
Much butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon, with a smattering of flour to hold it together. Big, tasty crumbs. A golfball-sized portion of streusel for each muffin! Always streusel, from now on.
These Banana Bread Muffins are uncomplicated to whip up, call for simple ingredients, and are a nice change of pace from a standard loaf of banana bread. If you want to branch out a little, give these a go.
Other banana bread ideas to experiment with during quarantine? Options…
Zucchini Banana Bread with Streusel Topping
Bacon Peanut Butter Banana Bread
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Banana Bread
Other quick breads and muffins, non-banana!
Pumpkin Zucchini Bread with Brown Butter Icing
Cake-Mix Lemon Blueberry Bread with Lemon Glaze
Almond Blueberry Zucchini Muffins
Lemon Blueberry Zucchini Bread
Streusel-Topped Banana Bread Muffins
Ingredients
For Banana Bread Muffins:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup buttermilk or sour milk
- 3 large bananas mashed
- 1 cup chopped pecans
For Streusel:
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 5 - 6 tbsp. butter melted
Instructions
For Banana Bread Muffins:
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla.
- Alternately add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk to the wet ingredients.
- Fold in the mashed bananas and pecans.
- Line 18 regular-sized muffin cups with paper liners. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter.
- Prepare streusel.
For Streusel:
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon.
- Drizzle 5 tbsp. melted butter into flour mixture, and then stir until crumbly. If needed, add additional butter, stirring until mixture resembles pea-sized crumbs. Note: As it was forming crumbs, sometimes it was easiest to use my fingers to stir and crumble the mixture. If streusel is too wet, let it sit for 3-4 minutes. The butter will firm up, and usually crumbs will easily form. If it's still too wet, add a tablespoon of flour, and toss to combine.
- Scatter a golfball-sized scoop of crumbs evenly over top of each muffin cup.
- Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes, rotating pans halfway, until edges are golden brown, and a toothpick inserted near the center of a muffin comes out clean. Muffins will also appear "set" near the centers.
- Remove to wire racks to cool completely.
- Store muffins in an airtight container, in a cool, dry place at room temperature for 4-5 days, or in the refrigerator for up to a week. Also, muffins will freeze wonderfully if well-wrapped.
Quick check-in to you all: how are you?? I hope everyone is taking care.
Thanks for the good read, Very inspiring.
This was so yummy! I used golden zucchini and veganized the recipe by using egg replacer and vegan butter. And some ground cloves since I didn’t have cardamom. This is going to double as my birthday cake! Super super sweet, so I could see doing it with less sugar, too. But soooo yummy.
I sometimes reduce the sugar content too — I barely notice, so you could definitely do that next time! Thank you for sharing your substitutions. 🙂