I have a particular affinity for baked goods with a crumb topping. There’s nothing like the tender crumb of a muffin, contrasting joyfully against the crunchy, sweet, buttery topping. And when you add fruit like ripe tannic berries and sweet creamy banana to the mix, you have a truly remarkable treat. Hence how these banana berry muffins came to be born.
My Youthful Affinity for Banana Berry Muffins
In truth, this was a recipe my mom would make a lot for us growing up. I don’t know how she got it, maybe it was from my great-grandma, or maybe it was from a friend. Irregardless, we would pester her to make it quite regularly. Making these with her was my earliest baking experience, and distilled in me a love of baking that I’ve yet to shake.
Fresh Versus Frozen Berries
So, the muffins! These are really flexible, so you can use whatever berry you have that’s ripe and in-season. I will say, though, that using frozen berries is a necessity if you’re making these outside of berry season (aka outside of summer and late spring). Typically, if it’s fall or winter, the fresh berries at the market are picked unripe, shipped from far away, and are generally bland as all get out.
The frozen berries, however, were picked at peak ripeness, so tender they couldn’t make it to the shelves for fresh eating, and were frozen instead. They bring such a wonderful fruitiness to the mix, and their juicy flavor bombs contrast beautifully with the crusty topping. They may tint the color of the batter a bit, though, so if you want to avoid that just toss them in a couple tablespoons of flour to coat them, first. Enjoy these banana berry muffins, my friend, and may they remind you of the flavor of bright summer days! And if you want more berry goodness, allow me to point you in this direction.
Banana Berry Muffins
Ingredients
Muffins
- 3 large bananas ripe
- 1 and 1/2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon flake kosher sea salt
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter softened
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup mixed berries
Crumb Topping
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a 12-capacity muffin pan with muffin liners and grease the top of the pan.
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In a large bowl, mash the bananas together until they are completely blended into a paste. Set aside.
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In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside.
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In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar at medium speed until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the bananas and mix until smooth, then reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture in 2 increments, mixing until *just* combined. Stir in the berries.
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To make the crumb topping, mix the sugar, flour and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Cut the butter into small pieces, roughly 1/2 inch in length and width, and put the pieces in the bowl as well. Then gently stir the mixture just enough to coat the butter pieces in the sugar mixture.
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Evenly distribute the batter between the muffin liners, filling them about 2/3 full. Sprinkle about 1 tablespoon of crumb topping over each muffin. Bake for about 20 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of each muffin comes out relatively clean, the tops of the muffins are golden brown, and the crumb topping has turned into a crust.
Wow these look really lovely and the photos are so pretty also.
These pretty, fruity muffins did my cold winter heart good! Yes – always learn from my failures. (Whew – otherwise what's the point) Keeping this on notice – have some berries in the freezer and bananas are just around the corner.
Hi Eva-Your banana berry muffins look so moist, and yummy! Love the recipe, and the beautiful photos too!
Thank you for your kind comment on my blog. I am following your blog, and invite you to follow, as well. Would like to stay in touch with your latests posts!
Thanks everyone 🙂 I really hope you do give it a go, they are quite tasty!
Eva, I really appreciated you stopping by my blog, thanks so much. Love the addition of berries to your muffin recipe. Thanks for bringing a bit of that summer feeling to us through your baking.
omg these muffins look to die for! I want a dozen for the breakfast tomorrow!
Yummy Muffins! Look so great!
Yum, love the berry addition to these banana muffins. Great photos too.
Sam
The photo's are really good and make the muffins look sooo yummy!
Thank you!
I made these today they are the best muffins I ever had http://www.momzblotter.blogspot.com
Thank you all so much! Sorry it has taken me a bit of time to comment, I have been out of town the past week sightseeing in Washington, D.C., which was cold but very very fun 🙂
I am honestly thinking of making these again now that I'm back. There's something about bananas in baked goods I just can't say no to….
Thank you for the recipe! A local coffee shop has the best 'Very Berry Muffin' and I can taste banana in it. I've been trying to find a similar recipe for a long time and this is the closest I've had. I added cranberry into mine and it turned out so good and moist. This recipe is a keeper!
-Jen from Vancouver, BC
I just made these and they're delicious! I'm an idiot and started mixing everything until I realized I was out of flour (oops). So I substituted it with a box of Jiffy mix and a handful of oatmeal and topped them with brown sugar. Amazing!
Very creative! That sounds like an awesome substitution, putting oats on top is a genius idea too, I definitely need to try that out when I make muffins again!
I made this for my housemates last week, and they absolutely loved them! I put strawberries and blueberries in with the bananas, very delicious.
Ohhh strawberries in it sound delicious!
Just made these this afternoon so we have a quick breakfast for the week. They are delicious! Thank you so much for posting. Definitely a keeper!
Glad you enjoy them!!
Made them and they were moist and tasted delicious. What a tasty combination bananas and blueberries. Can't wait to try your other recipes. Thank you so much!
Thank you so much Lisa!
About how many muffins does this recipe make? They sound amazing and am making them tomorrow!
Thanks Michelle! It makes about a dozen 🙂 Let me know how you like them!
I finally made these – incredible! I made them with bananas and huckleberries, yum! The huckleberries plumped up like blueberries; these were moist and cool inside with a perfect sugary-crunch top. Sublime!
Wonderful!! Thank you Denise 😀 I am so happy you enjoyed them!
Made these today after typing in "banana berry muffins" on pinterest. Fab-u-lo-soh!! That crusty topping makes them divine. Thanks so much. Will be a family favourite for sure 🙂
Awww thank you Amanda! I am so glad you loved the topping, it's so crunchy and wonderfully sweet 🙂
Oh my goodness, I stumbled across these and felt felt compelled to make them! I am having friends from afar to stay this evening, and I definitely see myself rising early tomorrow morning to have a plater of these ready for breakfast! Yum!
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