Banana Streusel Muffins Recipe

The Recipe: A super-moist banana muffin recipe, sweetened with very ripe bananas and much-reduced sugar, topped with a 'streusel' mix of toasted nuts and cinnamon. A real treat for breakfast or an afternoon snack — maybe deserve a spot on a Mother's Day menu?

The Conversation: How to break our addiction to sugar, family by family, bite by bite.

COMPLIMENTS!
"I've made your banana muffins 3 times already and love them ..." ~ Joan
"This is my new favorite, not only for banana muffins but I will [use the] streusel topping on other recipes ..." ~ Anonymous
"They were a huge hit at home and at my office." ~ Elizabeth

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Who’s noticed how food companies put sugar in everything nowadays? No wonder nutrition experts say our country has developed a severe sugar addiction!

Before Christmas, I experimented with draconian cuts in the sugar portions in cakes and cookies, muffins and scones.

My friends call these cuts "Alanna-sizing" a recipe: a fifty- percent reduction in sugar is a reliable start though as you’ll see from BANANA STREUSEL MUFFINS, more can work as well.

Yes, there is a taste difference. But a positive one!

Without overwhelming sweetness, banana muffins taste like banana and pumpkin coffeecake tastes like, well, pumpkin.

So adjust your own favorite recipes and let me know how it goes over in your family. If yours is amazed as mine, we’ll break the addiction, family by family, town by town.

I promise, you won't miss all the sugar in this recipe for Banana Streusel Muffins. They are still surprisingly sweet, my goodness, how over-the-top sweet the original muffins must have been. Still, they are definitely "muffins" and not "cupcakes".

And talk about moist! Even (accidentally) left uncovered on the counter for 24 hours, they were still as moist and delicious as straight out of the oven.

WEIGHT MANAGEMENT TIP For weight management, use discreet individual servings whenever possible. This avoids portion-size “creep”, that is, scooping out or slicing off just a little bit more. Muffin portions work well in baking. For casseroles or side dishes, use a quiche dish or pie pan easily portioned into a certain number of pieces.

Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. Quick Suppers are Kitchen Parade favorites and feature recipes easy on the budget, the clock, the waistline and the dishwasher. Do you have a favorite muffin recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail via recipes@kitchen-parade.com. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. Follow Kitchen Parade on Facebook!

BANANA STREUSEL MUFFINS

Hands-on time: 15 minutes
Time to table: 45 minutes
Makes 12 regular-size muffins

MUFFINS
• 1/2 cup (1 stick, 114g) butter, warmed to room temperature
• 1/4 cup (50g) sugar (reduced from 3/4 cup)
• 1 large egg
• 1-1/2 cups (375g) mashed banana (from about 4 very ripe bananas or "black" bananas)
• 3 tablespoons low-fat buttermilk
• 1-1/2 cups flour, fluffed to aerate before measuring or 187g (I use 1/3 whole-wheat flour)
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon table salt

STREUSEL
• 1/4 cup (50g) brown sugar (reduced from 2/3 cup)
• 1/2 cup (50g) toasted pecans or walnuts
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon

Heat oven to 350F/175C.

MUFFINS Cream the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer until well mixed. Add the egg and combine well. Add the mashed banana and buttermilk and combine well.

Separately, stir together the dry ingredients. Use a spatula or wooden spoon to stir flour mixture into the butter mixture, just until combined, without over-mixing (see TIPS).

Using two spoons, one to scoop and one to scrape, spoon batter evenly into 12 regular size lightly buttered muffin tins. Use the back of a spoon to slightly flatten the muffin tops.

STREUSEL Run the streusel ingredients through a mini food processor until nuts are fine. Use a spoon to spread evenly over muffins.

Bake for about 25 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes, remove from the muffin tin.

NUTRITION INFORMATION Per Muffin: 171 Calories; 11g Tot Fat; 5g Sat Fat; 38mg Cholesterol; 169mg Sodium; 17g Carb; 1g Fiber; 12g Sugar; 2g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS Old Points 4 & PointsPlus 5 This recipe has been 'Alanna-sized' with reductions in sugar.

ALANNA's TIPS Use the leftover butter wrapper to grease the muffin tins. Over-mixing the batter for a quick bread like muffins will create small tunnels. If you've had trouble with holes in muffins or quick breads before, switch to a wooden spoon to incorporate the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. A little flour on the side of the bowl won't hurt. If you'd like to cut a few more calories, use only half or two-thirds of the streusel ingredients, there's plenty for as many as 18 muffins.

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Moist & Banana Sweet (Not "Sugar" Sweet)

This is such a great little muffin recipe. I love how the banana flavor really comes through, also how the muffins stay so moist!

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More Recipes for Very Ripe Bananas

(hover for a description, click a photo for a recipe)

~ more banana recipes ~

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More Muffin Recipes

(hover for a description, click a photo for a recipe)

~ more muffin recipes ~

~ more breakfast & brunch recipes ~

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Shop Your Pantry First

(helping home cooks save money on groceries)

~ bananas ~
~ buttermilk ~
~ nuts ~
~ All Recipes, By Ingredient ~
~ How to Save Money on Groceries ~

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