I had some very ripe bananas that I needed to use, rather than waste them. I also had some double cream that had reached its’ use-by date. So I wanted to bake something that which would use both items.
A quick search on Youtube showed me a recipe by Anna Olson which looked just about perfect, for Banana muffins with a crunchy top. In her recipe Anna used buttermilk. But, as I mentioned earlier, I needed to use my double cream. I could have added a little lemon juice or white vinegar to turn it into a buttermilk substitute. But I didn’t really need to do that. Indeed, for those who don’t have buttermilk you can use milk instead and about 1 1/2 teaspoons of lemon/vinegar to make a substitute.
I wanted that light caramel or molasses flavour in my muffins so I used all light brown sugar for my muffins. But caster, or granulated sugar is just as good. Indeed, you can use a combination of sugars too.
These are so easy to make, as are all muffins. Simply mix together all the wet ingredients. Mix together all the dry ingredients. Then combine them into a batter. Then fill the muffins cups and bake them.
The crunchy top is easy too, since you just mix the four ingredients into a thick paste. Leave it to firm up before sprinkling on top of the muffin batter.
My Bake
I used tulip muffin cases that come up above the top of each cup. That allowed me to fill the cups to make 12 large muffins. For those smaller cases that just come up to the rim of the cups the recipe will make 18.
My muffins baked for 30 minutes. Then a skewer test showed that they were baked through. I took them out of the oven and left them in the pan to cool for a few minutes. Then I transferred them to a wire rack to cool completely.
The muffins tasted so good. They had a full banana flavour and a lovely crunch on the top. Just a hint of cinnamon in the crunchy top was good too.
These muffins are perfect for breakfast, lunch or with tea in the afternoon.
A lovely savoury muffin recipe is Cheese, Ham & Egg Breakfast Muffins.
Banana Muffins With Crunchy Top
Course: MuffinsDifficulty: Easy12
servings15
minutes30
minutesIngredients
- Topping
75g(1/2 cup, based on scooping packed flour into a 250ml cup) plain flour
56g(1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted
65g(1/3 cup) caster sugar
1 1/2g (1/2 tsp) ground cinnamon, or other spice
- Muffin Batter
250g(1 2/3 cups, based on scooping packed flour into a 250ml cup) plain flour
200g(1 cup, packed) light brown sugar, or other sugar of choice
113g(1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled a little
2 medium eggs(large in USA)
120ml(1/2 cup) double cream (or buttermilk)
220g(2 count) ripe bananas out of skin
4g(1 tsp) baking powder
2g(1/2 tsp) baking soda
5 ml (1 tsp) vanilla extract
2g(11/3 tsp) salt
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 190C/170C Fan/375F.
- Place muffin cases into a muffin pan.
- In a bowl mix the flour, butter, sugar and cinnamon to form a thick paste, then set aside.
- In a large bowl mash the bananas until broken up and soft and mushy.
- Add the sugar and melted butter and stir to combine.
- Add the eggs, double cream and vanilla extract and whisk until everything is combined.
- Mix the baking powder and baking soda into the flour.
- Sift that dry mixture over the wet mixture and fold in until all is just combined.
- Spoon the batter into the paper cases in equal amounts.
- Use a fork to break the topping paste into small clumps and sprinkle over the top of the batter.
- Bake the muffins for 25 to 30 minutes, until they rise well and a skewer, when poked into the centres, comes out clean.
- Remove the muffins from the oven and leave in the pan for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.