Banana Walnut Muffins

These bakery-style banana walnut muffins studded with chopped walnuts are of the extra-large variety and topped with a sweet, buttery streusel topping. They’re a fall weekend must-bake.

Banana Walnut Muffins

Sweater-weather is officially here and I’m officially in baking-mode. Specifically, I’m in the mode of baking up bakery-style muffins topped with crackly-sweet streusel because muffins are one of the few things I actually enjoy baking except for maybe some chocolate chip cookies or a loaf of sweet bread. I’ve never had the patience for hard-core baking mostly because I hate to wait for butter to soften (except for the chocolate chip cookies because the time you wait for the butter is paid back in perfect cookies) and I’ve never been great at following precise instructions which is a necessary skill if you want to conquer more complicated baked goods. So, muffins are my jam.

And these bakery-style banana walnut muffins are one of my favorites. I first shared this recipe almost four years ago and have made them many times since. They’re of the extra-large variety with a sweet, buttery streusel and studded with chopped walnuts. They’re what you might order at a coffee shop, but better because they’re homemade (with a quick prep time) and you get the added bonus of filling your house with a warm aroma that you only get when you crank up the oven and bake something sweet. They’re a fall weekend must-bake.

Some Ingredients You’ll Need

• It starts with mashed bananas. I like to use ones that are heavily speckled with brown spots but not so far gone that they are almost completely brown. I use a potato masher to break them down until they’re almost smooth, with a few lumps here and there.
• I know it seems a pain, but I always make these muffins using two bowls. One for the wet ingredients and one for the dry ones which you can also use to make the streusel topping. I like to sift the flour, baking soda, and salt into their own bowl before slowly adding them to the eggs, sugar, vanilla, melted butter, and mashed bananas. The sifting makes it easier to mix the dry and wet ingredients together, which you want to do just until they’re combined which keeps the muffins nice and soft.
• I like to finely chop walnuts and fold them into the batter.
• The topping is a simple combo of brown sugar, cold butter, and flour. I like to cut the butter into small cubes before cutting it into the flour and sugar until it resembles coarse sand.
• This recipe makes eight large banana walnut muffins. It’s very important to liberally spray the muffin tin with cooking spray, including both the cups and the edges. I fill the muffin cups to the top, which means they will rise up and over the edges and it makes it a whole lot easier to get them out of the tin if you spray it well. Top them generously with the topping. If your tin has twelve muffin cups, you can fill the empty ones with a little water before you pop them in the oven, although I’ve heard this is a myth and doesn’t make any difference. I’ve always done it so I guess I’m a little superstitious.

Happy baking 🙂

More Muffin Recipes

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Muffins

Lemon Streusel Muffins

Double Chocolate Banana Muffins

Print

This post has been updated from the archives. First published in March 2015.