Perfectly Moist Streusel Topped Banana Muffins

I love muffins. I'll eat them for breakfast, lunch or even a snack anytime of the day. Maybe it's the fact that they are basically a less sweet cupcake without the frosting and usually with fruit added in. No matter the reason I love them. I could use the same recipe to make muffins and a loaf of sweet bread and I'd go for the muffins over a slice of the bread anytime. Please don't ask me to explain that one because there really is no good reason, it's all about the delivery I guess.

Recently I scored a bag of bananas at the grocery for some crazy cheap price like $1.25 for 3 lbs, how could I pass that up? I expected them all to be nearly rotten, which was fine since I wanted to freeze some and bake with the rest, but most were still in good shape, just no longer in bunches. I have a really great go-to banana bread recipe I've taken to calling Bodacious Banana Bread because it truly is. The plan was to make that recipe into muffin form and top it with streusel, but while searching for the recipe I came around a banana muffin recipe I printed from allrecipes.com a long time ago and never tried. It sounded super easy and I had made some notations of reviewers modifications so I was curious. So glad I went with the experiment recipe because these muffins are amazing! They have a great banana flavor, a perfectly moist crumb and the stresel is just the icing on the cake so to speak.

These muffins come together quickly and you don't have tons to clean up, so if you're a morning person unlike me these would be a cinch to whip up for a Saturday morning breakfast, or even during the week if you're not totally pressed for time. The original recipe called for softened butter, but the review I read was from a baker who flubbed and used vegetable oil once and thought they came out even better. Of course I think butter is a heavenly creation, but when baking I like to use shortening or oil where I can simply because the result is often a baked good that stays moist or softer longer. When it comes to the streusel, make sure that your butter is good and soft before you start. Since I was making just enough to top the muffins I started mixing up the ingredients in a small bowl which didn't leave much room for using a fork or pastry cutter to cut the butter into the other ingredients so I ended up just mixing and smushing with my fingers. It got a little messy, but worked fine. I tend to be messy in the kitchen anyway, so I hardly noticed. Ovens vary, mine is a gas convection oven that's only a few years old so it's pretty accurate and even, but keep in mind when baking that it's best to start checking your goodies a few minutes before the bake time provided in the recipe. And, unless your oven is convection it's best to bake on the middle rack and rotate your pans halfway through when possible.

Streusel Topped Banana Muffins

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 large bananas, mashed
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/3 cup vegetable/canola oil*
• streusel topping (see recipe below)

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat muffin tins with non-stick spray or use paper liners.
2. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a mixing bowl; set aside.
3. In a large bowl, combine mashed bananas, sugar, beaten egg and oil. Add flour mixture, and beat until smooth. Scoop into muffin tins. (A regular size ice cream scoop works perfect.)
4. Top with streusel and bake in preheated oven. Bake mini muffins for 10 to 15 minutes, and standard size muffins for 25 to 30 minutes. (When muffins are done they will spring back when lightly touched.)
5. Allow to cool 5 minutes in tins then remove to cooling rack.
6. Store loosely covered at room temperature.

Streusel Topping

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons rolled oats
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Cooking Directions

1. Using a fork, pastry cutter or your fingers (which I find works best for me) combine all ingredients.
2. When completely incorporated and mixture resembles crumbs, sprinkle over top of muffins before baking.
3. (If using this streusel for a different muffin or quickbread recipe, use caution that you don't add too much, which could cause the muffins/loaves to collapse.)

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12 Days of Christmas Baking - Day 12 Cinnamon Sugar Scones

In search of the perfect breakfast treat for Christmas morning? Well, let me make a suggestion. Cinnamon Sugar Scones. They are easy to whip up, perfect for eating while you wind down from unwrapping presents and start gearing up for the big meal of the day. An added bonus is these scones won't weigh you down and hurt your appetite when the feast is finally ready.

I came up with this recipe several years ago when I was craving Bojangles cinnamon biscuits. And, for those of you non-southerners who don't know about Bojangles, it is a fried chicken fast food restaurant that has awesome sweet tea and killer biscuit sandwiches, especially the Cajun Filet Biscuit, my absolute favorite. Their cinnamon biscuits are pretty drool-worthy too. I took the recipe for Cranberry Scones from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook and reworked it to get my perfect scones. And, I am happy to say that my Cinnamon Biscuit craving was satisfied because the taste was pretty spot on, and let's be honest here, isn't a scone really just the British version of a biscuit?? Judging by the scones I've had, they seem pretty biscuit like to me, and that's not a complaint because I seriously love me some biscuits.

Aside from the taste another thing I love about these scones is that unlike some recipes this one isn't loaded down with butter and heavy cream. The taste is still there, just without a lot of the fat.

Sugary Cinnamon Scones

Scones Dough:
2c. all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
1/2c. sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, chilled
2/3c. fat-free half-and-half, plus 1 Tbsp reserved

Cinnamon Filling:
2 Tbsp packed brown sugar
1 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

Sugar Glaze:
3 Tbsp Confectioner's Sugar
fat-free half-and-half, as needed

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a small bowl combine all ingredients for cinnamon filling. Mix until evenly blended. Set aside.

2. In medium bowl, whisk together flour, 1/2 c sugar, baking powder, and salt. Using pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in 2/3c half-and-half until just moistened.

3. On a lightly floured surface, gently knead dough, 5-10 times. Pat into a 1/2 inch thick round or square. Evenly sprinkle half of dough with cinnamon filling mixture. Fold plain side over so that cinnamon filling is sandwiched in the middle. Cut into 8 evenly sized wedges; place on a baking sheet, approximately 5 inches apart. Brush tops with the reminaing 1 Tbsp half-and-half; sprinkle with 1 Tbsp sugar. Bake until golden brown, about 12-15 minutes. Let cool on wire rack.

4. Mix Confectioner's sugar with enough half-and-half to make a glaze thin enough to drizzle. When scones are cooled drizzle with glaze.

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Crescent Cinnamon Rolls

Are you like me and love crescent rolls AND cinnamon buns?  If so you've gotta try Crescent Cinnamon Rolls.  They are as easy as they are delicious.

I found the recipe recently via the lovely and highly addictive Pinterest. The recipe comes from The Hungry Housewife, which from the little bit of time I've peeked around looks like a cute blog with some tempting recipes.  The Crescent Cinnamon Rolls literally took me minutes to make, and only needed to bake for 10-12 minutes.  The icing that is drizzled on top took less than a minute to make and totally put these babies over the top.  

From Roots And Renovations

So far I've managed to use restraint and have only eaten half of one, I generously shared the other half with my Picky Eater aka my Big Bad Dad.  He's not one to rave over anything, but I took the fact that I heard not one word of complaint to mean that he enjoyed his share.  My half was still warm when I took that first bite of gooey, buttery, sweet deliciousness, and all I could think was "These will be SO good tomorrow for breakfast with a cup of coffee."  I'm not even a morning person and I'm looking forward to the A.M. because of today's creation.  

I'm betting you have everything on hand to make these except maybe the crescent roll dough, and I urge you to grab your keys now and go pick some up so you can make these already!  Don't just take my word on how good these are, try them yourself and let me know what you think.

Crescent Cinnamon Rolls

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 10-12 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes
Yield: 8
Ingredients

• 1 tube (8 count) Crescent Rolls, unrolled and seperated
• 5 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 1/2 heaping teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/4 cups + 2 tablespoons confectioners sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a small bowl, mix filling ingredients together until completely combined.
3. Evenly spread the filling mixture over the unrolled crescent triangles and roll up.
4. Place tip side down on a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper or aluminum foil and bake for 10-12 minutes until lightly golden brown.
5. Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack. (I recommend leaving the rolls on the foil or parchment and transferring the whole thing to the cooling rack.)
6. Combine glaze ingredients together and using a spoon drizzle over rolls.

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