Incredibly moist and tender - these Nut Banana Muffins taste better than your favorite bakery! Featuring fresh bananas, walnuts and a simple topping of honey glazed nuts, you’ll want to make this banana nut muffins recipe again and again. Best of all, these homemade muffins are easy to prepare, made with basic kitchen ingredients (plus 3 ripe bananas) and freeze beautifully.
OptionalTopping:Coarse Sugar or Sanding Sugar(for dusting tops before baking)
OptionalServing: Cinnamon Sugar, Honey Butter(see notes below for recipe)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Spray a 12-count muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray or use muffin liners.
Prepare the honey walnut topping: In a small bowl, toss ½ cup of walnuts with ¼ teaspoon of cinnamon and all the honey until well combined and walnuts are evenly coated. Set aside.
Prepare the dry ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, ¾ teaspoon cinnamon, baking soda, salt and nutmeg. Set aside.
Prepare the wet ingredients: In a large mixing bowl with a handheld mixer, or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with wire whisk, beat the bananas with the sugar on medium speed until well whipped, about 2 minutes. Add in the melted butter, eggs, milk and vanilla extract. Beat well, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Add the dry to the wet: Pour the flour mixture (dry ingredients) into the wet batter and use a rubber spatula to gently fold until everything is mostly combined. Add in the remaining ¾ cup walnuts and fold until all the ingredient are just combined – take care not to over-mix or the muffins will come out dry and dense.
Spoon the batter into the muffin tins, filling each tin ¾ of the way full. Sprinkle the honey coated walnuts (and coarse sugar if using) evenly on top of the muffin batter.
Bake: Transfer the muffins to the oven and bake for 5 minutes. Keeping the muffins in the oven, and without opening the oven door, reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Continue baking for an additional 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (a few moist crumbs is fine).
Allow the muffins to cool in the muffin pan for 5 minutes and then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Serve warm banana nut muffins plain or slather with honey butterand enjoy! Or store for later.
Video
Notes
Flour: You can substitute gluten-free or whole-wheat flour if you would like, just make sure you look for brands that can be substituted in a 1:1 ratio for regular flour.
Measuring Flour: Make sure you properly measure your flour! To do so, use a spoon to scoop the flour into measuring cup - do not pack the flour down! Then, use a knife to gently level the flour off.
Bananas: To ensure your banana muffins turn out moist, make sure you use overripe bananas! The riper the banana the better (just make sure it isn’t rotten).
To quickly over-ripen bananas:
To ripen bananas in 24 hours: Place the bananas in a brown paper bag and loosely fold the top. Make sure you check the bag occasionally to see if they are at desired ripeness.
To ripen bananas in 12-18 hours: Place the bananas in a brown paper bag and add a ripe apple or tomato to the bag. Loosely fold the top. Make sure you check the bag occasionally to see if they are at desired ripeness.
To ripen bananas in 15-30 minutes: Preheat oven to 300ºF. Place unpeeled bananas on a baking sheet and place in the oven. Check on the bananas frequently. Bananas are ripened when the peels are shiny and black. (Note: The bananas may leak a little bit, but don't worry about it.)
Mashing bananas: To mash bananas you can use a potato masher or a fork. You will be whipping them with sugar using a mixer, so don’t worry too much about mashing them up really well.
Cinnamon Honey Butter: These muffins are outrageously delicious slathered with cinnamon honey butter!! Recipe below.
Homemade cinnamon honey butter1 Stick Unsalted Butter – at room temperature3 TBS Honey½ tsp Ground Cinnamon1/8 tsp Kosher SaltInstructions: Combine all ingredients in a bowl with a handheld mixer, or in the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment. Serve at room temperature.To make banana bread:
Loaf pan: Instead of using muffin tins, use a 9×5-inch loaf pan to make banana bread. Make sure you grease or coat the pan well with nonstick spray and then spoon the batter into the loaf pan, filling it ¾ of the way full. (If you have any leftover batter, save it and make muffins!)
Lower baking temperature: Adjust the oven rack to the lower third position and bake in a 350°F (177°C) oven.
Increase baking time: Bake the banana bread for approximately 60-65 minutes, tenting the bread lightly with aluminum foil after the first 30 minutes of baking to prevent the top from browning too quickly. Check the doneness of your banana bread loaf by inserting a toothpick into the center of the bread - the loaf is done baking when the toothpick comes out clean (a few moist crumbs is fine).
Cool: Once your banana bread is done baking, remove the loaf from the oven and place the pan on a wire rack. Allow the bread to cool completely in the pan before serving and enjoying!
Nutritional information is an approximation based upon 12 muffins. Exact information will depend upon the brands of ingredients and precise measurements used.