My aunt makes the best banana bread. When I was a kid, every year after Christmas, all of my aunts, uncles, and cousins would squeeze into a condo on Pensacola beach for three or four days for the New Year’s holiday. The highlight of this trip was always banana bread. When we got to the condo, there would be petite-sized loaves wrapped in red and green cellophane sitting atop the small, beige-colored countertop and it was all my sister and I could do not to consume all of them in the first afternoon. As I got older and started puttering around in the kitchen, I asked my aunt for her recipe and began making my own banana breads. I had a very elaborate system for how to cool, rest, and wrap these little dark, speckle-y loaves in order to maximize that gooey top layer synonymous with banana bread and I would always save that little top ridge for my last, most savored bites.

But sometimes you get tired of making banana bread, especially if you’re anything like me and seems you always have a never-ending supply of too ripe bananas. My husband loves muffins and always requests them when we have a surplus of bananas rapidly browning on the counter, but I have never been able to master that sticky, soft top layer on the muffin. But, alas, I have come up with a solution to the problem. This cinnamon oat topping is not a traditional bakery-style muffin topping. I actually developed it from a cobbler recipe, so this is the real-deal crunch topping. Oats and brown sugar are bound together by a hefty amount of softened butter and you are really going to lay it on thick so that you get some of that crunchy goodness in each bite. Who knows, maybe this year I’ll wrap them in red and green cellophane and send them to my nieces and nephews to carry on the aunt who makes the best banana baked goods tradition.

Banana Muffins with Cinnamon Oat Crumble

Yield: 12 large muffins

Ingredients: 

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 large, ripe bananas

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg, beaten

1/3 cup coconut oil, melted and cooled 

for the crumble: 

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup old fashioned oats

2 tbsp + 2 tsp light brown sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt 

4 tbsp unsalted butter, cold and cubed 

Procedure: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 12 muffin cups, or line with cupcake liners, and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

3. In medium sized bowl, combine sugar, mashed bananas, egg, and coconut oil. Use a whisk to mix well, until combined and homogenous. Make a well in the center of your dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk until smooth and no dry spots remain. Use a large cookie scoop to divide among prepared muffin tin and set aside.

4. To make the crumble: In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a large bowl using a handheld electric mixer), combine flour, oats, cinnamon, salt, and brown sugar. Stir together. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the butter. When all the butter has been added, increase speed to medium and beat until fully incorporated and no dry spots remain.

5. Use your fingers to scatter oat topping evenly over the muffin batter. Bake for 18-22 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through, until muffins are golden brown and the tops spring back slightly when touched. Let muffins cool for 5 minutes in pan and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.