Coffee Shop Banana Bread Crunch Muffins Recipe

Shelly Westerhausen Worcel/A Couple Cooks

On a busy weekday, cold cereal is a breakfast lifesaver. But when you have time to spare, you’ll want to treat yourself to the coffee shop banana bread crunch muffins from Sonja and Alex Overhiser’s new cookbook, A Couple Cooks: 100 Recipes to Cook Together .

The Overhisers claim that corn flake streusel originated at Ovenly bakery in NYC, but this recipe proves that you can make the revelatory topping all your own. “These are just what you need when you’ve got a few black bananas , transforming overripe fruit into muffins with massive tops of glittering corn flake streusel,” the authors write. “They’re less of an everyday bake and more like a treat you’d snag from a bakery display case, making them a fun project for impressing guests or your partner.”

You’ll notice that the recipe calls for partially baking the muffins at a high heat, then finishing them at a lower temperature. This is a clever hack that guarantees big, photo-worthy muffin tops that are bound to wow your brunch guests.

^{Excerpted from A Couple Cooks : 100 Recipes to Cook Together by Sonja Overhiser and Alex Overhiser, © 2024. Published by Chronicle Books. Photographs © Shelly Westerhausen Worcel.}

Chicken Gyros with Tzatziki Recipe

361 calories

18g fat

48g carbs

3g protein

24g sugars

Muffins

1½ cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon kosher salt

1½ cups mashed very ripe bananas (about 3 large or 4 medium)

1 egg

¾ cup granulated sugar

½ cup neutral oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Corn Flake Streusel

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup unsweetened corn flakes

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons turbinado sugar, plus more for sprinkling

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line nine cups of a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.

2. Make the Muffin Batter: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda and kosher salt. In another medium bowl, whisk the bananas, egg, sugar, oil and vanilla.

3. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients using a spatula, stirring until a smooth batter forms. Don’t overmix. Let the batter rest for a few minutes while you make the streusel topping.

4. Make the corn flake streusel: In a small bowl, mash the butter with a wooden spoon. Add the corn flakes, cinnamon and turbinado sugar and stir until the butter is fully integrated, crushing the corn flakes until they become broken down and crumbly.

5. Divide the batter evenly into the muffin cups (the cups will be very full). Sprinkle the tops with the streusel, then with additional turbinado sugar.

6. Bake the muffins for 8 minutes, then lower the heat to 350°F without opening the door. Bake until the tops are brown and a toothpick comes out clean, 14 to 16 minutes. Remove the muffins from the oven and cool them for 10 minutes in the pan. Then, gently remove them from the pan (wiggle the tops if they stick) and transfer them to a rack to fully cool, about 1 hour. To keep the tops crunchy, place the muffins in a storage container with a layer of paper towels on both the top and bottom. They will keep at room temperature for up to three days.