Friday, August 3, 2012

Banana streusel muffins + "Skyfall"

Banana streusel muffins / Muffins de banana com cobertura streusel

I must admit that I’m not a fan of the 007 movies – it’s not my thing. I tried watching several of them, many, many times, but 20 minutes into it and I was either changing the channel or had fallen asleep. :S
The first Bond movie I watched from beginning to end was “Die Another Day”, and well... let’s just say that by the end of it I wished I’d spent those hours baking a cake or something. :)
Years later, I gave the movie franchise another chance and decided to watch “Cassino Royale”: the trailer seemed interesting and I wanted to see how Daniel Craig would do as the new 007; I thought he did an excellent job, giving the character an emotional depth I hadn’t seen before (and Eva Green was pretty amazing as Vesper, too). Despite not having watched “Quantum of Solace” yet, I know for sure I’ll be in the theater next November for “Skyfall” – Craig, Judi Dench and Ralph Fiennes together in a movie would be reason enough for me, but to top it all off beautifully “Skyfall” is directed by Sam Mendes, a director I adore. The new trailer is out, and it is worth watching.

***

These are called banana muffins (even though they’re made as cake) and they’re super tender and very delicious – their perfume while in the oven was intoxicating. The streusel topping tastes great and adds a nice crunch – I swapped a bit of the flour for the oats as a way of making them a bit healthier and it worked out fine.

Banana streusel muffins
from a book I adore and should definitely use more often

Streusel topping:
¼ cup (35g) all-purpose flour
1/3 cup (38g) rolled oats
½ cup (88g) light brown sugar, packed
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ cup (56g/½ stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

Muffins:
2 cups (280g) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup (113g/1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 very ripe bananas (I used 2 giant ones)
½ cup plain yogurt

Streusel topping: in a medium bowl, stir together flour, oats, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon. Add the butter and work it into dry ingredients using your fingers or a pastry blender until mixture is lumpy. Refrigerate while you make the batter.

Muffins: preheat oven to 190°C/375°F. Butter a standard 12-cup muffin pan.
In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
Beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each. Scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally. Beat in the vanilla and bananas. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients, beating just until the flour in absorbed. Mix in the yogurt.
Divide batter evenly among the muffin cups. Sprinkle each with streusel topping, pressing down so the mixture adheres to the batter. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins come out clean. Let cool in the pan, over a wire rack, for 8 minutes, then carefully unmold and transfer to the rack to cool.

Makes 12 – I made the exact recipe above, using this pan (¾ cup capacity each cavity) and got 8 (very high) muffins

6 comments:

Torviewtoronto said...

deliciously done looks wonderful

Melissa@Julias Bookbag said...

girl, we are two peas in a pod! We like the same treats, get excited about the same movies :)

These muffins look GREAT -- I made some marmalade muffins earlier this week! Now I want to make these muffins. Off to check out the Skyfall trailer! xo

Cupcake and Talk said...

The banana muffin looks amazing, I love the addition of the oats.

Laura (Tutti Dolci) said...

Anything with a streusel topping is an instant love of mine :)

Melissa@Julias Bookbag said...

Also, I have that book too (my ma gave it to me) and I have never used it. I forgot I had it! Oh my! I need to get on that....

Patricia Scarpin said...

Melissa, it's great to know I'm in such great company, dear! :D
You should definitely use that book, it's packed with delicious recipes!
xx

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