Banana Crumb Muffins

Seattle is not normally hot. We get an occasional hot day now and then but this week we are expecting 4 or 5 days of *gasp* over 90 degrees!!!! I know that may not seem like much to a lot of you but hardly anyone here has air conditioning and life gets very uncomfortable, especially at night when trying to sleep - of course with a fan running all night. I cannot stand hot temperatures and I am completely dreading this week and counting the days till autumn (my favorite season). I've also thought about the fact that I don't want to be baking while the temperature in my house can easily read 88 degrees. My solution: I woke up at 5:00 am this morning, did my daily 5 mile walk and then figured that it's safe to bake while the house is still really cool. What better treat to bake in the morning for breakfast, before the kids get up....muffins. I had some extra ripe bananas and I know that the boys love banana bread so I found a highly rated banana muffin recipe on allrecipes.com. Here they are and they are spectacular. I added some cinnamon to the batter and a splash of vanilla.

Crumb mixture sprinkled on top and ready to go in the oven. Don't you love this square muffin tins? They remind me of little crumb cakes. They have removable bottoms which is really handy for removing more delicate treats.

The top of the muffins were so crunchy!

Banana Crumb Muffins

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 3 bananas, mashed 3/4 cup white sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten 1/3 cup butter, melted 1/3 cup packed brown sugar 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 tablespoon butter

Directions:

1.	Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease 10 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.
2.	In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
3.	In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.
4.	Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.