old-school muffins packed with sweet chunks of ripe banana and topped with a crunchy cinnamon, banana, and almond struesel

The base for this muffin recipe come from AB's "I'm Just Here For More Food: food x mixing + heat = baking," one of my favorite baking cookbooks. In the opening to his "Old-School Muffins," he complains about the tendency of coffeehouses (coughStarbuckscoughI swear I don't live in its comfy cushioned chairs inhaling the aroma of my coffee cupcough) to give you a cupcake and call it a muffin.

Cupcakes are sweet, delicately moist, and cake-like, when muffins should be tender but sturdy, with a coarser crumb than the tiny, even bubbles of cakes give you. A muffin has body and substance. It can stand up to thick slices of banana and bursts of struesel flavor.

Try it out and see for yourself.

One of the things I liked about this recipe was that it gave me some serious muffins. The stiff dough rose into big bakery-style domes, covered in cracked, sweet struesel, without overflowing or sagging in the centers. The crumb was tender, moist and sweet, without feeling like a birthday party treat. I think this is my new muffin-base recipe (I've been searching for a good one for awhile).

Added bonus: the tasty struesel that tops these is a touch healthier than most. I replaced most of the butter with banana, and it turned out quite tasty.



Banana-Nut Muffins
Adapted from Alton Brown's "Old-School Muffins"
Makes twelve (260 calorie/30 carb) muffins
2 1/2 C flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
a pinch of salt

1/2 C sugar
1/2 C shortening
1 egg plus one egg yolk
3/4 C plain yogurt
1/4 C sour cream
2 Tb half and half

2 yellow bananas, sliced and then quartered (reserve a few sliced for the struesel, below)

struesel
1/4 C roughly chopped almonds
1/3 C flour
1 tsp cinnamon
2 Tb banana
1 Tb butter

Preheat your oven to 375. Line your favorite muffin tin with paper cups or grease them. (I'm a lazy cleaner; I use my paper cups).

Good bakers weigh their dry ingredients and sift them (or run them through a food processor; you achieve the same effect as sifting). I'm a lazy baker. But, hey, if you aren't? Take those dry goods (that would be the flour, the baking powder and soda, and the salt) and sift them into a separate bowl. Good job. I applaud you and your soul, which is a better one than mine.

Next, beat the sugar, shortening, eggs, yogurt, sour cream, and half n' half together for a few minutes. When you get bored of watching it spin around (or, if you've a hand mixer, when your arm gets tired) and everything seems incorportated, turn off the mixer. Dump the dry good (sifted and mixed... or not) straight on top. Mix on a low speed for a few seconds, or until everything is just barely incorporated. It's OK to have some dry flour hanging about. Overmixing muffins is a serious sin, folks. It kills the tenderness. Just stir until everything barely hangs together.

This is very stiff, thick batter; it's almost more like a sticky dough. Don't worry about it.

Fold the bananas into the batter. Don't mix too much; just fold it a few times and let it be.



Now, spoon your stiff dough into 12 muffin cups. The cups should be full. I know this goes against all "fill-it-2/3-of-the-way-up" muffin logic we've been taught, but it works with this batter.

In a separate bowl, now, mix the struesel ingredients. I like smooshing them with a fork or a sturdy whisk. When it's crumbly enough to sprinkle, you're down. If it feels very moist and forms balls bigger than a pea, toss in a Tb or two of flour. Sprinkle on top of the muffins.

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out dry. (Careful: make sure you're not stabbing a banana piece when you're checking for doneness).

Remove from the muffin pan immediately to keep the bottoms from going soggy.

Let cool for as long as you can stand the gently wafting aroma of baked brown sugar and melting banana. Then, yeah, you can eat them.