Brown Butter Banana Muffins

These muffins are the banana version of the brown butter blueberry muffin recipe that is one of my very favorites.  My sister was the first to try it with bananas and because I had bananas sitting on my counter that were getting more brown speckles by the hour, banana muffins became a must for an afternoon snack.  I decided to put chocolate chips in half the batter, this way I would have an excuse to have two muffins, I had to sample one of each, right?  (At least one thing turned out delicious today because dinner tonight was a big fat failure).

Brown Butter Banana Muffins

7 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup whole milk
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 medium bananas, mashed

Topping

3 tablespoons cold butter, cut into cubes
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Line muffin pan with paper liners

Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Keep an eye on the butter. Melt and cook down the butter until little brown bits appear in the pan.  The crackling will subside and the butter will begin to brown fairly quickly.  Keep a close eye because it can burn in hurry (speaking from experience).  Remove from heat and pour into a bowl to cool slightly.

Whisk milk, egg, egg yolk, and vanilla until combined.  Add the brown butter and stir to combine.

Whisk together flour, sugars, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.  Add milk and butter mixture all at once a stir gently to combine.  Gently fold in mashed bananas.

Divide batter among muffin cups.

To make the topping, combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and rub together with your fingertips until crumbly.  Sprinkle evenly over the batter in the muffin cups.

Bake until golden brown and a wooden toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 18-20 minutes.  Cool in pan on a rack for 15 minutes then remove from pan and serve warm with butter.

Adapted from Joy the Baker