Banana Crumb Muffins

Today's recipe was shared by a close friend. Normally I am mortally opposed to bananas; (it goes back to an early childhood spent watching my baby sister smash mouthful upon mouthful of banana into her mouth) but this recipe looked interesting. Instead of using butter I used unsweetened applesauce. This gives it a slightly stickier consistency and less rich flavor, but it retains the moisture provided by the butter. I also added a little bit of the brown sugar to the batter to give it a little color. The baking time was cut to about 16 minutes because my oven tends to run hot and cook fast.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 bananas, mashed
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup melted butter or unsweetened applesauce
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• healthy dash of ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease 10 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.
2. In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter/applesauce. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
3. In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.
4. Bake in preheated oven for (16)18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

DETOUR -- Strawberry Banana Bread

Normally I make muffins but I decided to change things up a bit and make banana bread. Strawberries are very much in season right now and it would be a shame to waste the opportunity to use a tried and true recipe. In addition, I went to a local strawberry farm on Saturday and, apart from seeing a fact witness to one of our cases there, got some pretty ripe strawberries. So without further delay here is my recipe, of long lost origins, for Strawberry Banana Bread.

Ingredients
2 stick softened unsalted better
2 cups sugar
2 cups ripe bananas, mashed
4 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
3 cups flour
1.5 pounds fresh or frozen strawberries, sliced



Directions
1. Grease two loaf pans and pre-heat oven to 325
2. Cream softened butter and sugar
3. Incorporate mashed bananas and scrape down bowl
4. Add eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly
5. In a separate bowl combine salt, baking soda and flour
6. Mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients
7. Gently fold in strawberries
8. Bake 60-75 minutes