Cinnamon Streusel Banana Muffins

These cinnamon streusel banana muffins are a delicious buttery twist on everyday banana bread!

Everyone's got a 'go to' banana bread recipe in their arsenal that's perfect for using up those too ripe bananas that are sitting on their kitchen counters. My favorite recipe is a riff on the banana bread recipe used at one of my favorite Boston spots Flour Bakery. The recipe makes a moist and sweet, but not too sweet banana bread that tastes great right out of the oven and even after being frozen and thawed. The updated recipe I am sharing today includes a few tweaks and a little something extra that really takes these muffins from ordinary to extraordinary: a cinnamon streusel topping.

This streusel topping is a muffin secret weapon.  It's sweet and buttery and crunchy all at the same time. And it comes together really easily with baking ingredients I am confident you have on hand all the time. It's amazing on these flavorful banana muffins and perfect on top of blueberry muffins too. Really, you could sprinkle it on top of almost any muffin batter before baking to kick your baking up a notch and you will not be disappointed. Bake these and trust me!

Ingredients:

For the muffins--

• 1 cup all purpose flour 
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp.  salt
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 4 very ripe bananas, peeled and mashed
• 2 Tbs. nonfat Greek yogurt
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup chopped nuts like walnuts, pecans (optional)

 For the streusel topping--

•  1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 cup butter, cold

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease a muffin tin or prepare with muffins cups

In a bowl, stir together the flours, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.

Beat the sugar and eggs in a large bowl until light and fluffy. While beating lightly, drizzle in the oil a little at a time-- not all at once. Add the bananas, yogurt, and vanilla and continue to mix until just combined.

Using a rubber spatula, fold in the flour mixture until thoroughly combined. If using nuts, fold those into the batter until evenly distributed. Pour the batter into the prepared muffin cups. Fill each cup to about 2/3 full.

In a small bowl, cut sugar, flour, cinnamon, and butter together until small crumbs are formed. Sprinkle over the top of filled muffin cups.

Bake for 30-35 minutes or or until golden brown on top. Cool for 5-10 minutes and then gently transfer each muffin to a wire rack to cool completely.