Homemade Banana Crumb Muffins

Use up your ripe bananas with this

banana muffin recipe!

Speaking of muffins ~ remember the Seinfeld episode, “The Muffin Tops?"

Elaine, who only cares for the muffin tops, proposes a harebrained plan to open a muffin shop that just sells the tops.  Mr. Lippman, her ex-boss, takes off on the idea, thinking it’s a million-dollar idea, does exactly that:  opens a muffin top shop.  When the muffin tops turn out tasteless and ho-hum, the business starts to fail.

Seinfeld, "The Muffin Tops"

Lippman asks Elaine for advice and bribes her with 30% of the profits.  She realizes that he is only baking the tops, and explains that he must bake the whole muffin and then pop the top from the stump.  This succeeds, but Lippman is left with hoards of muffin stumps.  They try to donate them to the homeless shelters who decline the measly offerings.

Running out of options, Lippman and Elaine explain the situation to her neighbor, the gluttonous and conniving Newman.  In a spoof of Harvey Keitel’s character in the movie, “Pulp Fiction,” (Keitel played a “cleaner,” an underworld figure who makes problems disappear, usually by burying them), Newman shows up with a vast quantity of milk and proceeds to devour the staggering stockpile of muffin stumps.

Which leads me to these banana muffins, with their addictive cinnamon crumb topping.  This is a slightly adapted King Arthur Flour recipe.  The original recipe was a blue-ribbon-winner in the junior division at the 1997 State Baking Contest at the Connecticut State Fair for a 9-year-old girl.

Hot from the oven

It’s a fairly simple muffin recipe to throw together ~ just a couple of bowls and a few ingredients.  For a stronger banana flavor, add banana extract.  If you do not have the flavoring on hand, substitute vanilla extract.

I’m not sure why the original recipe mentions that paper muffin liners shouldn’t be used.  I used them and they worked fine...

They’re banana-y muffins with a great cinnamon-y crumb topping!

BANANA CRUMB MUFFINS

Printable recipe 

INGREDIENTS:
TOPPING 
½ cup all-purpose flour

¼ cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 tablespoons (½ stick) butter, room temperature 

MUFFINS 
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
3 large ripe bananas, mashed
¾ cup sugar
1 teaspoon banana extract
1 egg, slightly beaten
⅓ cup butter, melted

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 375°.

For the topping: in a medium bowl, mix flour, sugar and cinnamon.  Add butter and mix with a pastry cutter or fork until crumbly, set aside.

For the muffins: in a large bowl, combine dry ingredients, set aside. 

In another bowl, combine mashed bananas, sugar, banana extract, egg and butter; mix well.  Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.

Fill greased muffins cups or paper liners two-thirds full.  Using hands, arrange coarse, pea-sized crumbs over muffin batter.

Bake at 375° for 16 to 20 minutes until muffins test done with a cake tester or toothpick.  Cool in pan 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

*Banana extract boosts the banana flavor, use vanilla extract, if you prefer.

Enjoy!