Almond Butter Banana Bread Muffins with Granola Topping
Back in the before times – in the days where we left our homes and dared to be in breathing range of other people – Brandon and I met up with our friends in Sedona, AZ for a weekend of vortex-feeling, hiking and not being wet (for us Seattle people) or cold (our friends live in Minnesota). It was a great weekend – mostly because of our fanatic friends – plus the amazing red rocks and general outdoor beauty. And also because it was the birthplace for the inspiration that became these Almond Butter Banana Bread Muffins with Granola Topping.
On our first morning in town, we stumbled into a coffee shop and, hungry people we were, ordered a breakfast that included whole grain toast with almond butter, banana, a drizzle of honey and sprinkled with granola. Simple food, but our minds were blown. Somehow the combinations of flavors and textures – salty, sweet, crisp, crunchy and chewy – was perfect. Happily it’s been easy enough to re-create at home (especially with this bread), and it’s become a regular in the breakfast rotation.
Fast forward to this past week. My work-from-home “desk” is my dining room table, which is next to the kitchen. The other day, during one of my 47,000 zoom meetings, I realized I could smell the bananas, hanging out on the kitchen counter, becoming overly ripe. This signaled to me that a) they were past their prime for almond butter toast purposes; and b) reminded me how much I dislike the overly-ripe banana smell. And since I can’t stand wasting food, it then occurred to me that I should be considering options to replicate the flavors of my favorite toast, just in baked-good form (and then it occurred to me that I should probably be paying attention to the meeting I was in…)
The end result is that amazing breakfast toast flavor, in portable muffin form! The recipe includes all the same ingredients – almond butter, whole grain flour, honey, banana, and granola – but in the form of a fluffy and tender muffin. The granola on top is a revelation; crunchy and salty, it adds great texture to the muffin.
For the granola, you can certainly make your own – that’s what I did, using this recipe, leaving out the dried fruit. Otherwise, store-bought is fine. Just make sure you fully cover the tops of the muffin batter with the granola; you definitely want good coverage.
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin or coat with cooking spray. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together both flours, baking soda, and salt.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix the banana, almond butter, honey, eggs, vanilla, milk, and oil.
Add the dry ingredients all at once and stir until just combined.
Scoop the batter into muffin tin (each tin should be about 2/3 full). Cover top of batter with granola.
Bake muffins 20-24 minutes or until a tester inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 minutes before turning muffins onto a cooling rack.
Oh these look great — a nice change from the breads for sure. Also, I was supposed to go to Sedona in April….ahhhh! Hopefully I’ll go next year, fingers crossed and I’ll need your recs!
Strudel and Streusel are two friends living in different cities, sharing a love of baking (and butter) through this blog. With Streusel in Denver, and Strudel in Seattle, we've found our little site to be a great way to stay in touch, share recipes we love, and talk about experiences in our respective cities.
I am so glad your mind drifted away from your meeting to the smell of ripening bananas! These muffins are SO good! I love the little zing of salt…yum!
★★★★★
Oh these look great — a nice change from the breads for sure. Also, I was supposed to go to Sedona in April….ahhhh! Hopefully I’ll go next year, fingers crossed and I’ll need your recs!