Banana Muffins with Walnut Crumble

This easy and quick recipe for those over-ripened bananas, topped with a delicious walnut crumble, is perfect alongside your favorite tea for a quick and filling breakfast or an afternoon treat!

Prep Time: 10 minutes prep, ~10-15 minutes cooling | Cook Time: 17-20 minutes | Total Time: 40-55 minutes | Makes: 10 muffins

Ingredients:

Muffin Batter:

• 1 ½ cups unbleached flour

• 1 tsp. baking powder

• 1 tsp. baking soda

• ½ tsp. salt

• 1 ½ c. very ripe / overripe bananas (about 3 medium bananas)

• ½  c. granulated sugar

• 1 large egg, lightly beaten

• 6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted (about ⅓ cup)

• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

• ½ tsp. ground nutmeg (optional but recommend)

• ¼ tsp. cinnamon (optional)

Walnut Crumble Topping:

• ½ c. dark brown sugar, packed

• ¼ c. unbleached flour

• 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cold

• ¼ c. chopped walnuts (optional)

Tools:

• 12-cup muffin tin

• Muffin cups for baking

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375°F.

• In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

• In a bowl or mixer, add ripened bananas, sugar, butter, vanilla, and nutmeg. Mix to combine. Once combined, slowly add the flour mixture to the banana mixture. Mix slowly until combined.

• Line a 12-cup muffin tin with 10 muffin cups. In each cup, scoop batter until ¾ full. Set aside.

• In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, flour, and cold butter. With your fingers or with a fork, combine butter with flour and sugar until the mixture resembles small chunks. Add chopped walnuts and spread mixture evenly over the 10 muffin cups.

• Place in oven and bake for 17-20 minutes, or until a toothpick pierced in muffin is dry (no wet batter or crumbs).

• Let sit in muffin tin for 10-15 minutes to cool. Once able to safely touch, remove from tin onto baking rack. Enjoy!

Notes:

• No one in my family is a fan of cinnamon so we omit, but please add to your batter if you'd like.

• If you don't like or are allergic to walnuts, just omit from recipe :)

• Why over-ripened bananas? I find that the muffins have a sweeter taste and smoother texture than bananas that are not over-ripened (i.e., large brown spots). If you buy bananas that are not ripe enough, look up how to quickly ripen bananas. There are many ways to ripen bananas as quickly as you need. I usually place bananas in a paper bag with apples for 2-3 days. If you are craving these muffins and don't have over-ripened bananas? Make the muffins anyway :)

• With all baked goods, I don't use the convection bake option for the oven.

• Store in an enclosed or covered container on your counter for up to 3 days or store in fridge for ~4-5 days.

• I buy vanilla extract from Beanilla. Their vanilla beans are also amazing!

• Recipe inspo from here, here (extra crumble recipe here!), and here.