Banana Crumb Muffins. The Nut-Free Version.

I've mentioned before that my favorite muffins are banana muffins.

I always end up with brown bananas at the end of the week. My kids always eat all but about three on a bunch, and then I'm left with brown bananas sitting on the counter.

SO, much to my delight, I get to make banana muffins a lot.

Most of the time, I have pecans on hand, so I make my favorite recipe for Banana Nut Crumb Muffins. But, I didn't have pecans yesterday, so I decided to play around and see if I could make these muffins taste just as good without nuts. The last time I tried, they were missing something.

These turned out perfectly. Many of you have commented that you don't really like nuts in your baked goods, or you have children in the house that can't eat them, so this version is perfect for you.

I added sour cream to this version, and added one extra banana. The sour cream gave the muffins that bit of savory-ness that they needed without the nut flavor, and the extra banana made them a bit more stable (muffin-like instead of cake-like). I also made these into jumbo muffins, using the muffin cups I use when making my Jumbo Blueberry Sour Cream Muffins. This banana muffin recipe makes 8 jumbo, or 12 regular-sized muffins.

My husband - the nut-hater in our house - went crazy over these. So, I'll be making them all the time. After all, his smile is one of the main reasons I cook at all!

Happy muffin-makin'.

Banana Crumb Muffins. The Nut-Free Version.
adapted from allrecipes.com.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
4 ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup sour cream
1/3 cup butter, melted

Topping:

1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease 12 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.

In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg, sour cream, and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.

In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.

Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

*These muffins freeze perfectly. Just pop any uneaten muffins into the freezer, and microwave for 30 seconds when ready to eat.