Banana Cinnamon Crumb Muffins

Top of the morning to you! Have you ever noticed how busy grocery stores can get on the weekends? I'm sure not every household works this way, but in my experience, the aisles tend to be the busiest on weekends when people have the most time to meal plan and cross off their grocery list for the week. That being said, by the end of the week, it can sometimes be a scramble trying to use up the fresh produce and fruit items that have a shorter shelf life.

Speaking of shorter shelf lives, this morning I found myself staring at three bananas gone ripe. Not beyond recognition, mind you, but spotty and squishy enough that the idea of peeling one for breakfast or an afternoon snack just wasn't very appealing. I pondered the idea of making the time-tested banana bread recipe that has been my go-to over the years, but in household of just T and I, we can never seem to get through the entire loaf, and I end up throwing half away.

Boy am I glad I decided to investigate new options! This Banana Cinnamon Crumb Muffin recipe was just the thing, and on top of being super easy, was absolutely delicious.

Recipe adapted from allrecipes.com

BANANA CINNAMON CRUMB MUFFINS | Yield: 12 muffins | Total Time: 35 min.

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 bananas, mashed
1/2 C white sugar
1 egg
1/3 C oil (I used half olive oil, half vegetable oil. Whatever you have on hand is fine.)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

CRUMB TOPPING:
1/2 C brown sugar
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp butter

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 12 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Use a whisk to combine. In a separate bowl, beat together sugar, egg, mashed bananas, oil, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture until just combined. Spoon the batter into prepared muffin cups.

In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 Tbsp butter and mix until crumbly looking. Sprinkle approximately 1-1 1/2 tsp of crumb topping mixture over each muffin.

Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on wire rack and serve warm.

Do you have any favorite recipes that use bananas?