Banana Bread with Oatmeal Cinnamon Streusel

Ahhh.....another banana bread recipe. Comfort food. I feel like I constantly have over ripe bananas on my counter. Even when I purchase them green, they seem to ripen so quickly! So I'm always on the lookout for a new banana bread recipe. This one is wonderful. The banana bread recipe search is kind of like the search for a chocolate chip cookie recipe - they kind of all taste the same after awhile. They all have something wonderful about them. This recipe is easy since the butter is melted when added. The butter gives it wonderful flavor and the streusel on top gives a nice cinnamon crunch.

Banana Bread with Oatmeal Cinnamon Streusel

• 5 or 6 over-ripe bananas, smashed up (mine were small to medium)
  
• 2/3 cup melted butter
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp baking soda
• dash of salt
• 3 cups cups flour

For the streusel:

• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/3 cup old fashion oats
  
• 1 tsp cinnamon (add more if you'd like)
• 6 tablespoons cold butter
  

1. Preheat oven to 350. Spray your loaf pan/pans. (I line the bottom of mine with a strip of parchment & I have better luck when I spray only the bottom of my pans with cooking spray, not the sides - mine are nonstick coating)
   
2. Mix bananas, butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla together. sprinkle baking soda and salt around on top of the banana mixture. Then gently stir in flour - just till incorporated. Do not overmix.
   
3. In a small dish, mix together the dry streusel ingredients. Cut in the cold butter. (I used a food processor for this part - took about 20 seconds). If you do use a food processor, leave your oats out until after you've run your processor or they will end up all crushed up with the flour & sugar. Fold them into the streusel mixture at the end.
   
4. Add the batter to the loaf pan. Sprinkle the top generously with streusel.
5. Bake until toothpick comes out clean. My mini loaf pans took about 30 minutes.