Banana Crumb Muffins
When banana and crumb topping come together you get these amazing muffins! The flavor is amazing, the texture of the crumb topping put these into the “over the top” delicious category.
Banana Crumb Muffins are some of my all-time favorites and make any morning better! So grab some extra bananas at the store and let’s get baking.
Muffins are already a great breakfast option, and when you add a crump top, it elevates all the flavors and adds a great mix of textures.
Crumb topping is one of my favorite elements to add to my desserts such as my Stuffed Apple Pie with Crumb Topping. I also enjoy it as a topping to my Pancake Loaf, which goes excellent with coffee or tea. Think coffee cake but SO much easier to put together! I have such a weakness for the delicious little crumbs, so of course, I created a banana muffin with a crumb top because, why not? And if you like coffee try these Chocolate Crumb Cake Cookies.
What I haven’t mentioned is my love for bananas as well. This simple fruit can be used in a variety of ways, all with excellent and scrumptious results. And it goes so well with many flavors like chocolate, peanut butter, and even other fruits. One of my favorite recipes is Banana Cream Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting. And Banana Peanut Butter Chip Cookies are a hit in my household. I seriously have so many banana recipes be sure to check them out.
I also love the health benefits that these golden fruits offer give these cranberry banana muffins a try! Bananas are packed with potassium making them an excellent after exercise snack especially since they have electrolytes and replenish energy. They are perfect in a smoothie, like my apple cinnamon oatmeal smoothie.
If your mouth is sufficiently watered, let’s begin!
Preheat the oven to 350°.
Next, we want to prepare a 12 portion muffin pan with paper liners or spray with a nonstick baking spray. Set aside.
Prepare your dry ingredients in a bowl. The dry ingredients are Flour, Salt, Baking Soda, and Cinnamon. Give it a quick stir with your whisk or spoon to incorporate all of these ingredients and ensure equal distribution. Set aside.
In a stand mixer or a bowl with a hand mixer, on a medium speed cream together the butter and sugar until smooth.
Add in the egg and mix on medium until combined. Your mixture will have a beautiful, almost lemon color and will begin to look fluffy.
Add in the banana and blend on medium-low. Once that is sufficiently combined then add in the sour cream and mix fully…
Next, add in the vanilla. Then add in the dry ingredients (cinnamon, flour, baking soda, and salt).
Mix on medium until all ingredients are incorporated.
Portion out 3 tablespoons of batter into each muffin compartment – this will take up about 2/3 of your muffin cup. Using a scoop ensure all the muffins will be the same size. This is the 3 tablespoon sized scoop I have and love.
Now it’s time to make this banana muffin decadent. Crumb topping here we come!
Crumb topping:
Mix the butter, flour, and sugar until it resembles coarse crumbs. This is best done by using a fork and pressing the tines of the fork into the butter and mashing against the flour and sugar. Once it resembles coarse crumbles, pile a heaping tablespoon of crumb topping onto the batter of each muffin.
Place the filled muffin pan into the preheated oven.
Bake at 350° for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Remove pan from oven, allow to cool for 5 minutes.
Remove muffins from the pan and cool on a wire tack or serve warm. These are so moist and delicious, I love them served fresh with a little bit of butter!
Do you have a favorite muffin/cupcake liner?
Yes, I love these glassine cupcake liners. I most often get black or dark brown as they look great with whatever I’m baking.
Is baking spray and cooking spray the same thing?
No, it’s not. A baking spray works the same way as if you used shortening and flour on your pan. Cooking spray is just oil. You can use cooking spray, but I recommend lightly flouring your muffin pan. Baking spray just makes this much easier and quicker! I use Baklene, it works great!
Can I use margarine in place of butter?
Butter is best in my opinion. Especially in baking. However, some of the newer plant-based butter out there have worked with great results.
What size muffin pan should I use, or does that matter?
Excellent question! This is for a standard muffin pan, so 2.75 by 1.4 inches. You could do these in mini or jumbo, adjusting the measurements as needed. Remember, that any adjustments to muffin size will require adjusting baking times as well. This is my favorite standard size cupcake pan, and I’ve used many… it bakes cupcakes evenly, all the cupcakes rise and bake nicely.
Banana Crumb Muffins
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup butter room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg large
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 bananas cut into small pieces
- 1/4 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
- 1/8-1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Crumb topping
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°.
- Prepare a 12 portion muffin pan with paper liners or spray with a nonstick baking spray.
- In a bowl with a mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth.
- Add in the egg and mix on medium until combined.
- Add in the banana, blend on medium-low, and then add in the sour cream and mix until combined.
- Next, add in the vanilla, cinnamon, flour, baking soda, and salt.
- Mix on medium until all ingredients are incorporated.
- Portion out 3 tablespoons of batter into each muffin compartment.
Crumb topping Mix the butter, flour, and sugar until it resembles coarse crumbs, use a fork. Then pile a heaping tablespoon of crumb topping into the batter of each muffin.
- Place the filled muffin pan into the preheated oven.
- Bake at 350° for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Remove pan from oven, allow to cool for 5 minutes then remove muffins from pan and cool on a wire tack or serve warm.
I find that the crumb topping retains its texture better if you make it before starting the muffins and let it sit in the refrigerator or freezer for at least 30 minutes before topping the muffins.
All crumb topping recipes are not the same, this one stays nice on top of the muffins and doesn’t need “special” attention, that’s why I love it so much. And I made many versions to get it to stay nicely on top and not sink into the batter, or fall apart, or go flat or melt away when baked.
They are tasty but mine turned out flat and had to cook them longer than 25 minutes
I’m glad they tasted good, the leavening in them is the egg and since it’s only 1 egg, I’m not sure why they turned out flat unless the oven wasn’t hot enough when they went it, they start rising right away.So be sure the egg is mixed properly.
Mine also turned out rather flat and sunk in after cooling. The crumble topping also just melted and crystallized around the edges if the muffins. The texture was not bready but more bread pudding. Not sure what I did wrong.
Baked items that rise and sink after they cool, are often over-mixed. Double-check the ingredients, and did you use fresh (not expired) baking soda? It sounds like maybe an ingredient was missed, or just everything was overmixed. As far as the crumb topping, was the butter cold when starting, and did it resemble coarse crumbs before topping it? Those are the first few things that come to mind. Double-check your oven temperature with an additional thermometer you place in the oven to be sure it’s running at the correct temperature.