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Caramel Banana Muffins

Moist and fluffy caramel banana muffins topped with brown sugar and cinnamon crumb topping. Drizzling the muffin tops is a caramel glaze.

Bakery Style Muffins

It’s easy to get muffins with those big beautiful tops like in the bakery. The trick is controlling the temperature which causes the leavening agents to work quicker.

Moist and fluffy banana muffins topped with brown sugar and cinnamon crumb topping.  Drizzling the muffin tops is a caramel glaze.

These muffins are baked at 425° for 5 minutes and once the 5 minutes are up, the temperature is dropped down for the remainder of the baking time. That’s really it! It’s a simple trick to getting that nice dome on muffins.

Banana Muffins

The key to making super moist and delicious muffins is choosing overripe bananas.

The bananas are easy to break down and they have a mushy texture which is perfect for baking.

Banana Muffins topped with a caramel glaze.

Another great and important tip to creating moist muffins is not overbeating the mixture! Once the flour is added to the batter, slowly incorporate the ingredients without overbeating.

This causes the mixture to become dense and the muffins won’t come out light and fluffy.

Ingredients in Caramel Banana Muffins

  • Bananas – the riper the better 
  • Vegetable oil
  • Granulated sugar
  • Brown sugar
  • Egg
  • Vanilla extract
  • Baking powder
  • Baking soda
  • All-purpose flour
  • Salt
  • Cinnamon
  • Unsalted butter
  • Milk
  • Powdered sugar

How to make crumb topping

You can use a fork when putting the ingredients together to make a crumb topping but you can skip this step and just dig right in with your hands.

The fork serves the purpose of breaking down the cold butter into bits and helping the dry ingredients stick to each other. This creates that desired crumbly texture on the tops of muffins.

RELATED: Jumbo Chocolate Chunk Muffins

Moist and fluffy banana muffins topped with brown sugar and cinnamon crumb topping.  Drizzling the muffin tops is a caramel glaze.

Another way of doing this is to soften the butter slightly before adding in the dry ingredients. Either way, you choose, it’s quicker than using a fork!

Baking the Caramel Banana Muffins

I make my muffins in two ways, either in a muffin liner or using a nonstick baking spray.

The nonstick baking spray really comes in handy because it has flour in the mix and it is super easy to remove baked goods when using it.

Moist and fluffy banana muffins topped with brown sugar and cinnamon crumb topping.  Drizzling the muffin tops is a caramel glaze.

I also use a dark nonstick baking pan as well. The muffins golden beautiful when using these pans.

RELATED: Cake Mix Blueberry Muffins

Caramel Drizzle

The caramel drizzle adds sweetness to these banana muffins. The glaze is made by melting down the butter and adding brown sugar.

It’s important to allow the brown sugar to break down and become smooth before adding the other ingredients.

You can drizzle the muffins by using a spoon or using piping bottles. I prefer piping bottles because it’s more consistent!

Caramel banana muffins cooling on a wire rack.
Caramel banana muffins drizzled with caramel sauce on a wire rack.

Caramel Banana Muffins

Yield: 12 muffins
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes

Moist and fluffy banana muffins topped with brown sugar and cinnamon crumb topping. Drizzling the muffin tops is a caramel glaze.

Ingredients

  • 3 bananas, overripe, medium 
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/4 tsp salt

Crumb Topping

  • 2 tbsp all purpose flour
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 2 tbsp unsalted butter

Caramel Drizzle

  • 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1-2 tbsp milk
  • 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar

Instructions

Muffins

  1. Preheat the oven to 425° and grease or line 12 muffin cavities.
  2. In a large bowl, beat together the sugars and the vegetable oil.
  3. Beat in the egg and add the bananas.
  4. Beat until smooth and add in the vanilla.
  5. Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
  6. Slowly beat the dry mixture into the banana mixture. Make sure not to overmix.
  7. Fill the liners 3/4 of the way full.
  8. Top with crumb topping and place in the oven.
  9. Bake for 5 minutes at 425° and then reduce the temperature to 350° for an additional 13-15 minutes. Check the center with a toothpick.
  10. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before drizzling with glaze.


Crumb Topping

  1. Mix together the flour, cinnamon, and brown sugar. Using a fork or fingers, cut the in the 2 tbsp of unsalted butter until crumbly.
  2. Add the crumbly mixture to the tops of the unbaked muffins.


Caramel Drizzle

  1. In a small saucepan, melt the unsalted butter and stir in the brown sugar until the mixture is no longer grainy.
  2. Remove from heat and add the 1/2 cup of confectioner's sugar, mixing quickly to break down the sugar.
  3. Add in the 1 to 2 tbsp of milk to get the desired consistency. Drizzle the tops of the baked muffins.

Notes

Store in an airtight container.

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 283Total Fat: 9gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 26mgSodium: 207mgCarbohydrates: 49gFiber: 1gSugar: 32gProtein: 3g

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