Banana Chocolate Chip Struesel Muffins

When I was younger I loved those little blue boxes of Jiffy Muffin Mix.

(And when I say younger, I mean anytime before my 30’s.)

One of my favorite flavors was Banana Nut.  It had that perfect balance of sweet and banana (and it didn’t hurt that you could enjoy a dozen in under 15 minutes for about $0.49).

When I got older (like three years ago), Hubs and I discovered Starbucks’ amazing banana chocolate chip muffins.  Again the perfect balance, but this time with the always needed addition of chocolate.  Of course, these were immediately discontinued/replaced.  Instead you could now find a banana chocolate chip coffee cake that didn’t even come close to the taste and texture of the muffins.  (I’m not bitter about this, can you tell?)

Well, about three months ago, I saw this recipe for Coffee Shop Banana Struesel Muffins, and it was written by Katrina from In Katrina’s Kitchen.  She’s amazing, so I knew I needed to save this recipe for a rainy day (not too hard to find around here).

And guess what the other day was?

The Recipe:

Banana Chocolate Chip Struesel Muffins, adapted from Katrina’s Guest post at The Kitchenarian

4 ripe bananas

1/2 c butter, softened

3/4 c brown sugar

2 c flour

1 t baking soda

1/4 t salt

2 eggs, beaten

4 oz semi sweet chocolate chips

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5  T butter, melted

2/3 c flour

2/3 c powdered sugar

1/4 t cinnamon

pinch of salt

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Preheat oven to 350⁰ F and lightly grease your muffin tin/baking cups with cooking spray.

Whip up bananas using the paddle attachment on your mixer for 3 – 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. It should end up being about 2 1/2 cups of banana fluff. Transfer to another bowl and set aside.

Cream together the butter and brown sugar in the bowl of the mixer (there is no need to wash off the paddle or bowl from the bananas).  Add eggs one at a time and then incorporate the whipped bananas until well blended.  In a separate bowl combine flour, baking soda, and salt.  Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet.  Add chocolate chips and mix gently.  Spoon batter into prepared cups or a greased muffin tin.

Melt butter in the bottom of a medium microwave-safe bowl.  Add the dry ingredients on top.  IMPORTANT: Incorporate the dry ingredients with your FINGERS until the mixture is moist and crumbly.  If you try to use a spoon it will congeal into one huge ball of goo.

Drop the crumb topping onto the muffins and bake 15 – 18 minutes.

{Printable Recipe}

The Results:

Katrina has not let me down yet!  These were specatacular – blew those Starbucks ones right out of the water (and let’s not even mention the Jiffy ones in the same sentence).

Well, I couldn’t bring myself to make these in those cruddy disposable muffin tins, so I went out and bought myself a shiny new muffin pan to use.

Not the best one on the market, but for me, it'll do.

Then I was all set to go.  The recipe was very specific about using ripe bananas and making sure you mix them until they are fluffy.  My four-year old was a little freaked out that I used bruised bananas, but I convinced him it would be okay.  I let the bananas mix for about five minutes and got this rich, frothy liquid.

Can you ever go wrong with a recipe that calls for banana fluff?

After I mixed all the original ingredients together, I went to put the extras away before I started the topping.  As I was returning the brown sugar to its spot, I spied the leftover chocolate chips from this recipe.  I could tell they were sad and lonely, so I decided to add them in.  (Genius, I tell you!)

The recipe was also clear about using your fingers to combine the struesel topping.  So, I did what I had to do, and it worked great.

When I assembled the muffins, they already were looking like masterpieces.

(Might’ve gone a little crazy with the cooking spray, there…I still think I have PTSD from this recipe gone wrong.)

And when I took them out, they looked even better.

Like I mentioned before, these were better than fantastic.  (I’m still trying to come up with a perfect adjective to describe them.)

The crunchy struesel top compliments the moist muffin-cake, and the chocolate chips give each bite a little ooomph of flavor (not that they needed it).

I made them as a breakfast food, but they can double as a wonderful dessert (or snack, or side dish for dinner, if you ask me).

This is another recipe I would highly encourage anyone to try.

(And then mail me a couple, please.)