Don’t throw out those sad bananas – make muffins. This is the muffin version of Shirley’s Banana Bread.

For the batter:
1 ¾ cups flour
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter or shortening
2/3 cup sugar
¾ teaspoon lemon zest (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla (optional)
2 eggs
½ cup milk
1-1 ¼ cups banana (around 1-1 ½ bananas)

For the streusel:
¼ cup all purpose flour
¼ cup brown sugar
3 Tablespoons butter, room temperature
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix sugar, butter and salt until light and fluffy. Incorporate eggs, one at a time, scraping down bowl after each addition. Mix in banana, zest and vanilla until mixture is smooth.

In a separate bowl, sift together flour and baking powder. Add one third of the flour and mix, then add half the milk. Repeat, and finish with remaining flour. Once mixture is smooth, mix for one more minute.

Mix streusel ingredients with a fork.

Fill cupcake papers about halfway. Top with streusel. Bake 18 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool completely or muffins will stick to the papers.

Banana tip: Some people like to take their brown/overripe bananas and put them in the freezer for later use. Skip the freezing. Unless you are the kind of person who cleans out your freezer every week, you will likely end up with freezer burned bananas, which you will still have to defrost to use. Instead, just use the bananas when they are ripe or even slightly over-ripe when they still have their freshness of flavor.

Enjoy!
~Amelia