Slightly healthier whole wheat banana crumb muffins contain no oil! There’s butter in the streusel crumb, but if you’re watching calories, you can skip the topping.
I was trying to make some healthy-ish muffins. My husband said that our last 3 bananas were getting too ripe, so I happily took them. It was time to make some breakfast treats again, so banana muffins were a natural choice. I swapped out the all-purpose flour for white whole wheat flour. In addition, I substituted the oil for unsweetened applesauce. The muffins were finally healthier.
But then I felt like the muffins needed a little pizzazz. Chocolate chips? Nah. Streusel topping? OH YES.
OK, so my healthier whole wheat banana crumb muffins didn’t go exactly as planned. I ruined it by adding a full fat streusel topping. And these are worth every single calorie. If you’re watching your weight or fat intake, you are more than welcome to omit the topping. I don’t recommend it, of course, but that’s up to you.
My whole family went bananas (pun intended) over these muffins. Addie, for some reason, was complaining about how crumbly the streusel was, but I don’t think she quite understood that streusel is supposed to be crumbly. The muffins were soft, and the sweet topping was a nice added touch. The next time I make these, I may throw in a few chocolate chips to jazz them up a bit.
Whole wheat banana crumb muffins
Ingredients
Muffins
- 1 and ½ cups white whole wheat flour can substitute with all-purpose
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 fully ripe bananas smashed
- ½ cup brown sugar packed
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- ⅓ cup unsweetened applesauce
Streusel topping
- ½ stick (4 Tablespoons) unsalted butter melted
- ⅙ cup brown sugar
- ⅙ cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- pinch salt
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
Instructions
Make the muffins
- Preheat your oven to 375°F. Generously grease or line a standard muffin pan and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Set aside.
- In a medium sized bowl, mix together the bananas, egg, sugars and applesauce. Transfer this to the large bowl with the dry ingredients and gently fold together until no dry streaks remain. Do not over mix.
- Transfer the batter into your prepared muffin pan, filling each about ¾ full.
Make the streusel
- Mix everything together until it resembles wet sand. Gently add the crumbs on top of the muffin batter.
- Bake the muffins in your preheated oven for about 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Allow the muffins to cool before serving.