Cinnamon Banana Bread Muffins Recipe

If there was ever a reason to let bananas slip past their ripest stage on purpose, it would be to make banana bread. Catching bananas when they are just barely brown — but not overripe — is what gives banana bread the sweet flavor and moist texture it's known for. Usually paired with bursts of melty chocolate, banana bread is the perfect breakfast for anyone with a sweet tooth (and you could even argue that it's kind of nutritious). As if the soft and bouncy bread couldn't get any better, we have a secret ingredient that makes achieving the super-moist crumb foolproof; and it is inspired by Latin American cuisine.

Platanos fritos are enjoyed in Mexico, the Caribbean, and parts of Africa, and are often served with lechera. The milk in this case refers to the sweetened condensed milk that is drizzled across the sweet fried plantains. The combination, along with a generous sprinkling of cinnamon, provides a delicious burst of sweet flavor and crunchy texture. While plantains aren't exactly bananas, they are comparable enough to exchange places in a recipe like this one. Using very ripe bananas, developer Michelle McGlinn folds sweetened condensed milk and cinnamon sugar into banana bread batter for a baked breakfast version of the Latin American dish. Sweet and impossibly moist, these muffins are the perfect treat for any morning, rivaling even your favorite bakery's best banana bread.

The most important ingredient you need for banana bread muffins is the bananas, and it's crucial to let them get ripe. Since you can rarely buy bananas at the store that are ripe enough for banana bread, plan to buy your bananas 3 to 7 days in advance of making the muffins and let them get just past golden yellow, when the skin is just barely browning. If you can't wait, use the most yellow banana possible (anything but green). From there, the ingredient list is straightforward, especially if you already bake often. Grab flour, baking soda, baking powder, cornstarch, salt, granulated sugar, eggs, vanilla, butter, cinnamon, and a can of sweetened condensed milk.

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Line a muffin tin with 12 liners.

Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, cornstarch, and salt into a bowl.

In a large bowl, whisk the banana, ¾ cup sugar, condensed milk, eggs, vanilla, and butter together until smooth.

Combine the dry ingredients into the banana mixture and stir until just combined. Do not overmix.

In a small bowl, combine the cinnamon and remaining ½ cup sugar.

Fill the muffin liners halfway with batter.

Spoon 1 tablespoon cinnamon sugar onto each muffin.

Fill the muffin liners to the top with the remaining batter.

Spoon another tablespoon of cinnamon sugar to the top of each muffin.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

This recipe provides plenty of cinnamon sugar, enough for you to add extra to your muffins or to save some for later. While tossing away a quarter cup of sugar isn't necessarily a big deal, it's much better to use it elsewhere and avoid food waste. The easiest option for reusing the sugar is to keep it in a jar and use it for cinnamon toast. It also adds a lovely sweet and spicy flavor when stirred into tea and coffee. Along the same lines, you can also add it to equal parts water and simmer over the stove until the sugar dissolves, then strain and use the syrup for cocktails.

If you're not one for sugary drinks, you can also use cinnamon sugar to elevate other recipes. Swirl the sugar into pancake or waffle batter for easy cinnamon-scented breakfasts. You can also use it in recipes that call for both cinnamon and sugar, such as no-bake snickerdoodle cookie dough or pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. You can get creative and use it (sparingly) in savory dishes, such as in a marinade for steak, baby back ribs, or pork chops. If you go the savory route, balance the sugar with spices like chili powder, paprika, and cayenne.

The easiest way to customize these banana muffins is to add nuts into the mix. To do this, choose a nut like pecans, walnuts, or almonds and roughly chop them into small pieces. Mix the nuts into the cinnamon sugar, then continue with the recipe as written. The nuts will brown slightly on top, creating a crunchy, sugary crust. If you want to add chocolate chunks: We recommend swapping the cinnamon sugar for chocolate to avoid the muffins being too sweet, though you can still add a little cinnamon to the dry ingredients before you mix the batter.

You can also use additions that are less conventional or swap the bananas out entirely. Try adding dried fruit, such as cranberries or raisins. You can mix in white chocolate chips for a unique chocolatey taste — and add macadamia nuts for a perfect pairing. This recipe can also be used for pumpkin muffins — pumpkin puree can be swapped seamlessly in the place of the mashed bananas. Just use 1 can of pure pumpkin puree and mix it into the wet batter. Fold in the dry ingredients and fill the tins, layering with cinnamon sugar, as written. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean and enjoy the warm, spiced, fall-forward muffins.