brown butter banana strawberry muffins

FINALLY MY FIRST RECIPE POST!

Oh, how long I have waited for this day to come! I've been planning and dreaming about this post for weeks, and I finally had a chance to bake this morning. Lately, our house has constantly been stocked with heavenly sweets, from banana bread that my mom made to the Instagram-famous Sidecar donuts. I wanted to put off making these muffins until we finished eating each thing so that I would be able to exercise some self-control, but I soon realized it's impossible for our household to not have some kind of naughty treat in the kitchen. As shown by the Julian apple pie that is currently sitting on our kitchen counter. But I really couldn't wait any longer and made the damn muffins. Who in their right mind would complain about too many baked goods?

These simple but comforting muffins are especially close to my heart, for a variety of reasons. It was the first time I experienced the wonderful fragrance of BROWN BUTTER. Brown butter, man. Glorious, nutty, full of warmth, it is my idea of liquid gold. As soon as it makes contact with sugar, the aroma that immediately fills your nose is just, UGH. Just the thought makes me dreamy. These muffins were also how I received my mom's permission, in a way, to bake and use the kitchen. When I first started baking a couple years ago, my mom did not like me using the kitchen at all. She thought I would make a huge mess, and that baking was a waste of time. So, I was determined to prove her wrong by making the kitchen look impeccable afterwards (still working on this), and see her eyes light up with pleasure biting into something I made. These were the muffins that finally received her approval. For that reason, I am very fond of them. Yes, I develop fondness for muffins.

These muffins are simple but so satisfying. They are full of banana goodness, moist and fluffy. The depth of warmth and flavor the brown butter adds is incredible. I love the fruity tartness that the strawberries add as well. You could mix in any fruit besides strawberries too; they were just what I had on hand. Blueberries are wonderful with this recipe.

Regardless of whether you have 10 cakes in your kitchen or zero, you will not regret making these delicious muffins. 

Wet ingredients (I doubled the recipe)

Recipe (makes 12 muffins)

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar*
• 1/4 cup brown sugar*
• 2 bananas, mashed (about 1 cup)
• 1/3 cup buttermilk**
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cup diced strawberries

Almond Streusel ingredients

• 1/2 cup chopped nuts (almond, pecan, walnuts, any nut will do)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Preheat your oven to 425 F. (Baking the muffins at a high temperature for the first 5 minutes will allow the muffins to rise sky high and form a nice dome. Thanks SBA!) Line a standard muffin tin with liners, or spray with non-stick spray. 
2. Make the streusel. Combine the nuts, sugar, and cinnamon in a bowl and mix thoroughly.
3. In a small or medium saucepan, brown your butter. I like to cut the butter into equal cubes so that it will melt faster and evenly. Here is a good guide to how to brown butter if you have never done it before. Pour the browned butter into a medium sized mixing bowl.
4. Mix your dry ingredients together with a whisk: flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. 
5. In the bowl with the browned butter, add your eggs, sugars, buttermilk, and vanilla extract. Mix with a whisk until fully combined. Add the mashed bananas and mix until incorporated.
6. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry. Stir gently with a whisk until no pockets of flour remain. Be careful not to overmix; the muffins will be dense and tough if overmixed. Pour in the strawberries and combine with a spatula.
7. Fill your muffin tin with the batter. Fill each hole to the top; doing so will help create the beautiful domes. 
8. Sprinkle about 1 tablespoon of the streusel onto each muffin. I like to lightly press the streusel into the muffin batter so that it will stick better after the muffins are baked. 
9. Place the muffins into the oven. For the first 5 minutes, bake them at 425 F. Then, lower the temperature to 350 F. Bake at 350 F for 18-21 minutes. The muffins are done when a skewer poked into the middle of the muffins comes out clean. 

*You can use all granulated sugar or all brown sugar, whatever you have on hand.

**If you don't have buttermilk, you can also use any other milk or a combination of yogurt and milk.