Banana Crumbcake Muffins

You know we've all done it. Bought bananas thinking we'll eat them and they either don't appeal to us after we buy them or they ripen too fast and we don't get the chance. Rather than let them go to waste - there were 5 large ones after all, I decided I'd make something out of them.

I'm not a huge fan of banana bread, mostly because it was the one fruit-inclusive thing I could get the ex to eat so it got made often, too often. That and I prefer my bananas fresh from their bright yellow wrapping. I knew muffins would be a good choice because they're portable, and being tomorrow is the Orleans Farmer's Market hosted by Orange County Homegrown so I figured I can sell what didn't get eaten at the house. Being I'm the only one with any affinity for banana bread here its likely the majority will go to market.

This recipe is short, sweet and to the point, sort of. I used a recipe found here that I modified in a few ways as you'll see below. I again used a spice blend from SpiceEmporium on etsy that I don't see listed but was their "For the Holidays" blend that you can probably ask for, it contains cinnamon, coriander, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, ginger & vanilla bean. It gives anything calling for cinnamon a lovely depth of flavor.

I had 4 large bananas going on their last days hanging from the banana hook and 1 banana that was further gone than those 4 but the flesh inside was just right. In all I had a LOT more banana than I think the original recipe intended. But they turned out very moist & very tasty.

Banana Crumbcake Muffins
Makes 15-18 large muffins

1 1/2 - 2 cups all purpose flour (you can probably use any type of flour you want including whole wheat)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4-1/2 tsp salt (how much you use is up to you) I used 1/4 t and they worked fine
3-5 bananas, mashed (the more banana mixture you use the more flour you might need to add)
2 tsp For the Holidays spice blend or 2tsp mixed spices (such as cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger)
1 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp vanilla bean (the black goo from inside fresh vanilla beans), or 1tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
3/4 cup white sugar
1/3 cup oil (I used vegetable, canola or even olive oil should work)
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Crumb topping:
2 Tbsp flour
1/3 cup brown sugar (doesn't need to be tightly packed but it does help)
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
1/8 tsp vanilla bean (the black goo from inside fresh vanilla beans)
1 Tbsp butter (not margarine butter works better)

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Preheat oven to 350F. Line 15-18 muffin cups with paper (or foil) liners, or spray your muffin pans well with cooking spray.

In large bowl mash the bananas, mix in 1/8 tsp vanilla bean goo, spice blend, and cardamom, egg, and white sugar, stir until blended. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and oil, combine well. Mixture will be slightly thinner than cake batter. Mine was nearly liquid so I added an extra half cup of flour (originally 1.5 c), a little at a time until it was the right consistency. Mixture will be lumpy with the banana mush.

Scoop into prepared muffin pans until about 3/4 full (more or less to suit means more or less muffins/bigger/smaller sized muffins).

Set aside. In small bowl combine crumb topping ingredients with fork blending until the mixture forms a streusel like topping. Sprinkle crumb topping evenly over each muffin top. Bake muffins at 350F for 20-25 minutes or until pick inserted in middle comes out MOSTLY clean. Due to the high moisture content of these mine were solid and darkening on top but the pick test was a 'mostly clean' result, vs a dry perfectly clean pick. My total cooking time was just under 20 minutes. If you have more than one muffin pan, rotate pans halfway through cooking to ensure even doneness.

Let muffins cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove to wire racks for the rest of the cooling time. Store in airtight container.

Mine made 18 large muffins - likely due to the excessive amount of bananas I used. The total banana mixture I had was 2 2/3cups banana mush without the sugar, egg etc added in.

Whole vanilla beans make a huge difference in the flavor of these and most cooking (and you can use the bean two ways, scoop out the guts to add to your baking/cooking, and then recycle the bean by putting it into a light flavorless alcohol such as vodka or rum to make your own extract over time).

These and the Garlic Bacon Cheddar Sourdough muffins will be on our table at the market the weekend of June 4th 2011 if you're in the area come by and pick one up.

frawggie