Banana Cream Cheese Muffin w/ Crumb Topping

I read somewhere that, "Whoever invented the muffin understood that even grown-ups secretly want to eat cake for breakfast." This is so true! Especially for these muffins because they have a not-too-sweet layer of cream cheese filling inside~





These muffins are very moist and delicious. And honestly, I bet it would be just as delicious without the cream cheese filling for those of you who want a traditional banana muffin.




These are easy to bake... I guess it can just be annoying because you need to prepare three separate mixtures: batter; cream cheese filling; and crumb topping.  But they are all very easy to put together. Basically, the cream cheese filling and crumb topping is just throwing the ingredients into a bowl and mixing.



Please excuse the poor quality of the pictures because I took them with my phone. I still think they look pretty despite camera-phone-quality photos.

Ingredients:
-For the muffin-
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted and cooled
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1 egg, room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

-For the cream cheese filling-
8 oz. (1 package) cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg, room temperature

-For the crumb topping-
1/3 cup coarse brown sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter, melted

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line muffin pan.
2. In a large bowl, mash bananas and beat in sugar, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla.
3. In a smaller bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.
4. Gradually stir in the dry flour mixture to the wet egg mixture until just moistened.
5. In another bowl, make cream cheese filling by beating all three ingredients together until nice and fluffy.
6. Start filling muffin liners by alternating between the muffin batter and cream cheese filling. (Optional: You can even add a layer of crumbs somewhere in between too, just make sure you leave enough crumb topping for the top of the muffins) Start and end with muffin batter until 3/4 way full.
7. Sprinkle the top of the muffins with crumb topping generously.
8. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Apple Muffins

I LOVE this muffin! The apple taste is really light and perfect and the texture is super moist. And I just love how gorgeous they come out each time.  The diced apples and coarse brown sugar on top really makes this one of the most beautiful muffins ever!





This recipe calls for an entire cup of oil. I used vegetable oil. For those of you who find this unappetizing, you can sub it with 1/2 applesauce and 1/2 cup oil instead.




Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup oil (or 1/2 cup applesauce and 1/2 cup oil)
2 eggs, room temperature
3 cups peeled, cored, diced apples (~3)
< 1/2 cup coarse brown sugar for topping

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line muffin pan.
2. Cream together sugar, eggs, oil, and vanilla in a large bowl.
3. In a smaller bowl, sift flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon together.
4. Gradually add the dry flour mixture to the wet egg mixture until well combined.  The batter will be very thick.
5. Add the diced apples but leave a few to top the muffins with!
6. Fill muffin liners ~3/4 way full.
7. Place remaining diced apples on top and sprinkle with coarse brown sugar.
8. Bake 20-24 minutes until a toothpick that is inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Makes ~18 muffins.
   

Enjoy!