Tender, moist Sourdough Banana Bread Muffins studded with dried cranberries and topped with a crunchy, sweet almond streusel. A fabulous way to start the day.
Last month I posted my Whole Wheat Sourdough Blender Pancakes recipe, along with info about making a sourdough starter. You have to feed the sourdough starter every week to make room for more flour and water. So once a week when I feed the starter, I get to make something fun. Last week I decided to try Ruthie’s idea of adding sourdough to my favorite banana bread recipe.
Since a loaf of banana bread can take an hour to bake, my husband and I (he’s usually the banana bread maker) make muffins instead. The muffins take only 20 minutes to bake. I’m not a huge nut lover, so this time I opted to use Craisins. But if you love nut, add them as well.
I’ve recently started using If You Care Unbleached Muffin Cups. They’re suppose to be better for the environment, but the real reason I love them is your don’t lose half your muffin when you peel the paper off. They adhere nicely, but come off cleanly, and they look pretty in pictures.
The sourdough flavor isn’t really strong in the muffins, it just adds a nice little tang. I added a streusel topping to these muffins. My husband usually just adds a sprinkle of coarse turbinado sugar before baking when he’s baking muffins. Either way works well and gives you that crisp, sweet muffin top that everyone loves.
Sourdough Banana Bread Muffin Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup mashed very ripe banana
- ½ cup sugar
- ¼ cup butter melted
- ½ cup sour dough starter
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- ¼ cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ tablespoons butter melted
- 2 tablespoons sliced almonds slightly crushed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease a muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray or vegetable oil, or line with paper muffin liners.
- Prepare streusel topping and set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside.
- Combine banana, sugar, melted butter, sourdough starter, eggs and vanilla in a large mixing bowl; beat on medium speed until well blended. Add flour mixture to banana mixture, stirring just until moistened. Mix in cranberries.
- Divide batter evenly into 12 muffin cups. Sprinkle muffins with streusel topping.
- Bake for 20 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool muffins for five minutes in the muffin pan before removing to a wire rack to cool.
Streusel Topping:
- In a small bowl, whisk together sugar and flour. Add butter and mix until mixture has a sandy texture. Mix in almonds.
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Sarah
These turned out really well! 17-18 minutes baking for 10 large muffins was enough in my oven so check on the early side.
Barbara Schieving
Great – thanks Sarah!
Lori Black
Can I use starter discard instead of bubbly starter?
Barbara Schieving
Hi Lori – yes, discard starter is perfect for this recipe.
Missy Wertz
I made these this morning. Delicious! Thanks for sharing!
Barbara Schieving
Great – thanks Missy!
Natosha
Do you use fed starter or discard? Thanks!
Barbara Schieving
You will want to discard some of your starter. King Arthur Flour has a great guide https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/sourdough-starter-recipe
Lori Black
You didn’t really answer her question whether to use discard or fed starter
Barbara Schieving
Hi Lori – yes you can use discard starter. Read the tips at the bottom of the King Arthur post linked to. Also, King Arthur has a list of recipes using discard starter https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/collections/sourdough-discard-recipes
Sarah
Love this! I added some cinnamon with the streusel… will make again 🙂
Barbara Schieving
Thanks Sarah – sounds like a great addition!
Gretchen Rivas
I made these with a few tweaks….used half cup corn meal, half cup whole wheat flour, quarter cup almond and one and a quarter white flour to increase fiber and nutrition. Used whole fresh chopped cranberries and added pecans. Used raw sugar rather than white. And used more banana too. All I can say is they are delicious! Thank you!
Mary Showalter
Found your recipe on Twitter. It sounds so good, and since you have never steered me wrong with pressure cooker recipes, I feel confident these will be very tasty. Can hardly wait to try!
Barbara Schieving
Thanks Mary – it really is a great muffin recipe. Enjoy!
Linda
I usually do not have the starter around but I do have sourdough flavor to add to recipes to give the item the flavoring without the starter. I have heard it cannot be used where the starter is leavening but it looks like it is more flavor here and the baking soda and baking powder do the leavening. Do you think adding some flavoring vs. starter would work? Thanks! Love the sound of the recipe!
Barbara Schieving
Hi Linda – I do think that would work in this recipe, but you would also have to replace the starter with some liquid. Enjoy!
James David Carter
Maybe add buttermilk if you have it.
Letty / Letty's Kitchen
Yum! What a great way to sneak a little of that starter in….
Nagi@RecipeTinEats
These muffins are so adorable! My mornings would be bright if I’ll have these for breakfast! YUM!
kristy
These muffins are so gorgeous. Love the way how it rises.
Hope you’re having a lovely day.
Blessings, Kristy
Katrina
I always have a starter going!! These are DEFINITELY on my to-bake list!!