I always seem to have a few overly ripe bananas leftover at the end of the week. Instead of making my old standby, banana bread, I made these delicious Banana Muffins with Walnut Streusel Topping.
This recipe is from the beautiful Bouchon Bakery Cookbook and makes six jumbo sized muffins. Just like when I made the Pumpkin Muffins from the same cookbook I ended up using my popover pan and it works out just great. (You can also make 12 regular sized muffins but check them at 25-30 minutes so that they don’t overbake.)
These muffins are made with cake flour, which gives the crumb a finer, lighter texture than a typical muffin made with AP flour. The muffins bake up moist and delicious and the walnut streusel topping adds a tasty crunch that pairs well with the banana flavor. I easily substituted the cream fraiche in the recipe for some greek yogurt.
The key to keeping the texture of these muffins light and fluffy is to not over-beat the eggs into the batter and to make sure the batter “rests” in the fridge overnight before baking. Resting the batter allows for the flour to absorb the liquid, resulting in a very moist muffin with an enhanced flavor and texture.
Here is how you can make your own.
You can find the recipe here. Since the batter and the topping will stay in the fridge overnight there is no need to prepare the muffins tins until the following day.
Streusel Topping: The recipe makes enough streusel for twice as many muffins, so you can halve the recipe if you want or just freeze the leftovers to use at a later date. Combine all ingredients except for the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix together.
Toss in chilled butter pieces and mix on low speed until butter is incorporated with no large pieces remaining. Transfer streusel to a covered container and refrigerate overnight.
Don’t bother washing the electric mixer bowl and paddle, just go ahead and make the batter!
Batter: In a medium bowl sift the cake flour, baking soda and baking powder together then whisk in the salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of the electric mixer beat the butter until smooth then beat in the sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla paste and mix until just combined. Do not over mix.
Note on eggs: the recipe calls for 80 grams of eggs which comes to a little less than two eggs. The eggs in all Bouchon recipes are beaten then passed thru a sieve to strain out any membrane before weighing. I think you could probably just use two eggs with no problems if you can’t weigh them.
Add the cake flour mixture in two additions, beating until just combined. Add the creme fraiche (I used Greek yogurt instead) and mashed banana, mixing for around 30 seconds.
Transfer batter to covered container and refrigerate overnight or up to 36 hours before baking.
Baking: Prepare a 6 cup jumbo muffin pan with papers (I used a popover pan lined with parchment squares) or a 12 cup muffin pan with papers. Lightly spray papers with Pam. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Spoon the batter evenly into the papers leaving approximately 1/2 inch from the top. Sprinkle three Tablespoon of chilled streusel on top of each muffin.
Place the pan into the oven and immediately turn the temperature down to 325 degrees.
Bake for 35-38 minutes for jumbo muffins and 25-30 minutes for regular muffins. (I placed a cookie sheet under the muffin pan to capture any potential overflow of batter.)
A toothpick inserted into the tops should come out clean. Let pan cool for 10 minutes then remove muffins from pan to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in covered container at room temperature.
