Banana Crumb Muffins

I had a trio of overripe bananas staring me in the face, so I decided to take full advantage and bake up some banana muffins while Madeline napped.  These muffins have the added bonus of being topped with cinnamon and sugar – pure deliciousness.  I wanted to bring some to playgroup this week so I made up a few regular sized muffins to keep at home for Dennis and also baked up some mini muffins for the kids.  I made the muffins this morning and have already eaten two of the mini muffins – oops.  I should probably put them out of sight so there are at least some left over for the kiddies…

Banana Crumb Muffins (adapted from AllRecipes)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

¾ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon nutmeg

3 bananas, mashed

1/2 cup white sugar

¼ cup brown sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/3 cup butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla

Topping:

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon canola oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease muffin cups.

In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugars, egg, vanilla, and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.

In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Mix in canola oil until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.

Bake in preheated oven, about 10 minutes for mini muffins and 18 minutes for regular sized muffins.  The muffins are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Apple Pie Muffins

At our favorite restaurant one night Dennis and I had the most amazing apple cake.  I thought about trying to find a similar recipe to make for breakfast out but thought a muffin would make more sense (not that there’s anything wrong with eating cake for breakfast).  Muffins are such a great breakfast food since you can freeze whatever you don’t eat, then take one out whenever you want some home baked goodness.

I gave one of these to Dennis warm out of the oven and was hoping he’d give me a bite.  Apparently that wish was in vain because he gobbled the muffin down in about 4 bites.  As I gazed wistfully at the few crumbs left over he assured me that the muffin was very, very good.  So at least there’s that.

Apple Pie Muffins (From AllRecipes.com)

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup milk combined with 1 T lemon juice)

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar

2 cups diced apples (about 1 large apple.  I used Granny Smith and would recommend using a tart variety)

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 12 cup muffin tin or line with paper muffin cups.

In a large bowl, stir together 2 1/4 cups flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate smaller bowl, mix together the egg, buttermilk, 1/2 cup melted butter, vanilla and 1 1/2 cups of brown sugar until sugar has dissolved. Pour into the flour mixture and sprinkle the diced apple into the bowl as well. Stir just until everything is blended. Spoon into the prepared muffin tin, filling the cups about ¾ full.

In a small bowl, stir together 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 1/3 cup flour and cinnamon.

Drizzle in 2 tablespoons of melted butter while tossing with a fork until well blended. Sprinkle this over the tops of the muffins.

Bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the tops of the muffins spring back when lightly pressed.

Honey Corn Muffins

I apologize for my absence but Dennis and I took a much-needed trip to Europe where we traveled around Italy, Barcelona, and some other spots along the way.  We ate a lot of great food; I can’t understand why there’s not a gelato shop on every NYC corner.  The U.S. is really missing out!

Anyway, on to these muffins.  I grew up with Jiffy mix corn muffins, usually slathered with grape jelly and eaten for breakfast.  It wasn’t until I grew to love barbeque that I began to appreciate corn muffins as an essential part of a savory meal.  Eaten with a spicy chili they cut the heat and really help balance the meal.  I personally like sweet corn muffins – apparently that’s a Northern thing as Southerners don’t like theirs as sweet.  I won’t take sides on the debate, but I’ll just say that these were exactly what we were looking for.  Not only were they sweet and moist, but they were sturdy enough so they didn’t fall apart when dipped in chili.  I love it when I find a go-to recipe, and that’s exactly what this is.

Honey Corn Muffins (adapted from The Food Network)

Ingredients

1 cup yellow cornmeal

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

2 large eggs

1/2 stick butter, melted

1/4 cup honey (The best way to measure honey or any other sticky substance is to spray the measuring cup with cooking spray first.  Not only does it make it easier to clean the measuring cup but you’ll also get the full amount without any sticking to the cup.)

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Into a large bowl, mix the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. In another bowl, whisk together the whole milk, eggs, butter, and honey. Add the wet to the dry ingredients and stir until just mixed.

Spray a 12-cup muffin tin and evenly divide the cornbread mixture. Bake for 15 minutes, until golden. 

If you’re looking for something a bit different, cut the muffins in half, spread some butter on each side, then grill, butter side down, in a skillet.  Once they’re nice and brown they’re good to go.

Cinnamon Sugar Doughnut Muffins

I wasn’t even planning to bake this Sunday as I already whipped up a batch of these for a Jersey Bites bbq on Saturday.  (Have you checked out Jersey Bites yet?  If not, definitely do so as it covers all food-related things going on in the Garden State and even has some articles by yours truly!). 

But this past Sunday was the first full day of football which meant that by 5 o’clock I’d been subjected to nearly 4 straights hours of pigskin prowess.  In an attempt to maintain my sanity I decided to see if I could find an easy muffin recipe so I could send Dennis off to work on Monday with a breakfast goodie.  My husband is the worst when it comes to breakfast.  His usual breakfast at work ranges from a granola bar to a cupcake from Crumbs.  I decided to straddle those two extremes with these muffins.  They want to be a doughnut, but they’re not fried so bonus points there.  I also subbed in some white whole-wheat flour in an attempt to make up for all of the sugar they’re covered in.  And they’re covered in a lot of sugar.  So if you’re looking for a (somewhat) healthier alternative to your normal morning doughnut, definitely give these a try.  You won’t be disappointed.

Cinnamon Sugar Doughnut Muffins (Adapted from Culinary in the Desert)

1 cup all-purpose flour

¾ cup white whole-wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 egg -- lightly beaten
3/4 cup milk

To top the muffins
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/3 cup sugar (I used a mix of regular sugar and vanilla bean sugar from Savory Spice Shop)
1 t. ground cinnamon

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon. In a medium bowl, mix sugar, oil, egg, and milk; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.

Fill greased muffin cups about 3/4 full. Bake at 350° for 18-20 minutes or until muffins test done. Place melted butter in a small bowl; combine sugar and cinnamon in another bowl. Immediately after removing muffins from the oven, brush muffins with melted butter and roll in the sugar mixture.

Makes 9 muffins.