Name: Banana Muffins
Cook time: 20 minutes
Total time: 45 minutes
Yield: Makes 12
Ingredients: ½ cup (100 g) dark brown sugar; ¼ cup (31 g) unbleached all-purpose flour; Pinch kosher salt; 2 Tbsp. rolled oats; 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature; Neutral oil (for muffin pan); ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter; ½ cup (100 g) dark brown sugar; 2¼ cups (281 g) unbleached all-purpose flour; 2 tsp. baking powder; 1 tsp. baking soda; 1 tsp. ground cinnamon; ½ tsp. kosher salt; ¼ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg; 2 large eggs; 1 cup mashed ripe banana (from about 2 large or 3 small), plus 1 ripe banana, coarsely chopped (optional); ¾ cup plain whole-milk yogurt (not Greek); 1 tsp. vanilla extract; ½ cup (64 g) toasted walnuts, coarsely chopped (optional)

A plate of banana nut muffins with brown sugar streusel being sliced in half.

Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Drew Aichele

The classic banana muffin recipe gets a boost from several supporting ingredients in this rendition of the bakery favorite. Brown butter, dark brown sugar, and warming spices all serve to enhance the natural sweetness and depth of flavor that develop as bananas ripen. The batter itself has additional chopped banana folded into it, yielding a ratio of one-quarter banana per muffin and a cross-section filled with sweet pockets of banana. Each banana-walnut muffin also gets the streusel treatment: a bumpy, crunchy, sweet topping flecked with oats. As with most muffins, the closer you are to “fresh out of the oven,” the better the experience. Consider making the streusel ahead of time, measuring out your ingredients, and prepping a muffin tin with papers to have it all ready when you wake up. That way you can have a batch of banana muffins in the oven before the coffee is even finished brewing.

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