Here is a fantastic breakfast or snack muffin recipe. As we are cooking more at home, go-to recipes are great to have in your file. Banana Blueberry Muffins features ripe bananas to keep them moist. Sour cream also helps the crumb be extra soft. Lemon zest and blueberries provide a tart counterpoint and keep the muffins bright. A sugar streusel topping adds the perfect crunch to these muffins.
What is streusel?
Streusel is German for scattered. It is a crunchy topping baked on the top of quick breads, cakes or other baked goods. There are two ratios for streusel, the European version is 1 part sugar, 1 part butter, 2 parts flour. This makes a crumbly topping. American streusel are somewhat different and have more sugar, 3 parts sugar, 1 part butter and 2 parts flour. This higher sugar content produces a topping that is closer to a sand-like topping and bakes up as large crisp grains that crunch.
Which ever type of streusel you favor, make sure you use cold butter. Use a fork or pastry cutter to cut the butter into small pieces. Combine the flour and sugar before adding the butter and stop cutting when the streusel resembles small pea size pieces so the mixture stays crumbly rather than becoming a grainy paste.
What is a Topping?
The topping can have nuts and oats added toward the end of mixing. It is then sprinkled on the batter just before baking in the oven. You can make a streusel 2-3 days earlier and store in the refrigerator or in the freezer (for up to 3 months) for use as a topping for other baked goods. No need to defrost the topping if you freeze it, just break it up into crumble size as you scatter it over the top of whatever you are baking.
Using both lemon zest and a touch of lemon extract in addition to vanilla brightens these muffins. Make sure your bananas are nicely ripened and blackened to add the sweetness and deep flavors. The use of oil will help the muffins bake up nice and soft, while the addition of butter adds flavor. To avoid the blue stain in baked goods when cooking with blueberries, try using frozen blueberries. This will help the blueberries stay suspended in the batter as well.
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Banana Blueberry Muffins
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 18 minutes
- Total Time: 33 minutes
- Yield: 24 muffins 1x
- Category: quick bread, breakfast, snack
- Method: baked
Description
Moist banana crumb and bursting with the tart burst of blueberry flavor, these muffins are the best ever. A sparklingly sugar topping makes these muffins extra special.
Ingredients
- 4 ripe bananas, mashed (1 cup mashed)
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1–1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- Pinch of nutmeg
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup frozen blueberries
Streusel Topping
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup butter, cold
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Place pepper liners into each cup of two muffin pans. Using cooking spray, spray the outer rim of the muffin pan. (This step will help the streusel from sticking to the pan.)
- In a blender, add the bananas and blend until well mashed. Check that you have 1 cup banana. Add the oil, melted butter sour cream and blend again. Adding these ingredients will help you get all the mixture from the blender.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream the eggs and sugars together together until pale and fluffy. Add the vanilla, lemon extract and lemon zest, mix well.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together baking powder, baking soda, salt nutmeg and flour until well combined.
- Add dry ingredients to the wet batter and lightly mix, only until barely mixed together. Lightly fold in the bananas and frozen blueberries.
- Scoop mixture with a large scooper into the paper liners filling each cup to 2/3s full.
- To make streusel: combine sugars, flour, and salt in a bowl. Cut the cold butter into small chunks and using a fork or pastry cutter, cut the butter into the crumbly mixture.
- Top each muffin evenly with streusel mixture.
- Place the muffin pans in a preheated oven. Bake for 16-18 minutes until the muffins are golden brown and the streusel is firm. And the tops spring back when lightly pressed with a finger or a toothpick comes back clean.
- Let cool for 5 minutes and then use a knife to cut around the base of the muffin top to make sure the sugar hasn’t firmly attached the muffin to the pan. Remove the muffins and finish cooling on a cooling rack.
Notes
Using both butter and oil gives good flavor as well as great texture.
If your oven heats unevenly, rotate the muffin pans half way through baking.
The baking time is only a guide, use the visual and tactile clues as when the muffins are done.
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