Zucchini & Banana muffins with streusel topping, and chocolate chips

I’m being honest here.  I like my muffins to taste more like cake.  I really don’t have much of a sweet tooth so when I want a muffin, I would like it moist & sweet, light, fluffy, full of bananas or cranberries, or cinnamon or lemon or nuts, maybe filled with cream cheese and an almond vanilla drizzle on top.  In the past I’ve tried variations with cutting down on the fat, substituting apple sauce for some of the oil, alternating sugar for other sweeteners, going part wheat and white flour….all of it.  But what it really came down to is; I don’t really like those muffins as much.  So on the rare occasion I do eat a muffin, I want it to taste good.  If you’re a muffin addict and eat them all the time, you should probably find a good low fat, low sugar, high fiber muffin recipe.  This recipe is not that….but it is yummy.

Here is a snapshot of what you need and the recipe is at the bottom.

Ya, I know - it looks like a lot.  If you have extra zucchini though, you are a desperate person and I know how you feel.  Did you know you can just grate it up and freeze it for amazing muffins in the dead of winter?  Try it.  It works.  I doubled this recipe.  If I’m making muffins, you bet your bottom dollar I’m not just making one batch.

Turn on your oven, by the way - to 350.

If you want the streusel/crumb topping, which I recommend…then I would get that out of the way first.  Just mix the ingredients into a bowl and set it aside.  And a tip; this freezes great! I usually triple the batch and freeze what I don’t need into portions - then I have a handy crumble topping anytime I need it quick.

Streusel Topping

Dry Ingredients

Wet Ingredients

Combine

For the batter - get your dry ingredients into a smaller, separate bowl.  Just dump them in.  I don’t sift anything on this recipe, although with other baking projects, I’ll think about it.

Next, in a large mixing bowl, combine your wet ingredients. First beat the eggs & sugar until light and fluffy then add the oil and vanilla.  Now, hand mix in the bananas and zucchini.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir by hand.  Mix gently, until everything is just combined.  You’ll want chunks of this and that.  At this point I divide my batter by scooping out 1/2 of it and putting into a separate bowl.  I need a plain batter without chips or nuts because my hubs isn’t in love with extra stuff in the muffins. But I am! See the cute heart dish??

Now comes a bakery production line. I like to prep my pans in advance, then batter-up without too much fuss.

Prepping pans

Filling tins

Topping with streusel

Paper loaves

Here they are all snuggly in their pans with their blanket of streusel topping. Pop them into the oven - set the timer and get going with the mini-loaves.

These paper mini-loaves are one of my favorite things.  They are adorable. The perfect size for gifts and bake really great.

Once the muffins are done, (check cooking times below), your loaves are ready to go in.

Placing muffins on cooling rack

Pull the muffins out of the tins and place on wire rack.  The loaves stay in their adorable containers.

And at this point, household members are starting to find their way into the kitchen…wondering what that glorious aroma is. This is your opportunity to ask them to do the laundry and the dishes. Might want to consider it.

Cheers!

Mile High Zucchini Banana Bread muffins.

Here’s the scoop on old bananas.

For the love of all that is holy, do not chuck your over-ripe bananas.  1) For smoothies - peel them, put them into a freezer bag & toss in the freezer.  The next time you want a smoothie, pull them out and you have frozen bananas to whip up in your smoothie.  2) For baking, don’t peel the bananas, just toss them straight into the freezer, (bag optional).   At any given time I have random bananas knocking around in my freezer.  They get hard as rocks.  You could hammer a nail with the thing.  Then, when I want to make banana bread I pull them out, defrost and slip them out of their sleeves into the batter.  Something magical happened in the freezer which increases the sugar and moisture - I don’t know what it is - I don’t question such things.  Don’t let the dark color put you off - it’s OK, really.