Banana Crumble Muffins

I can't count the number of times I have had to throw away what had been good food once upon a time; bananas are one thing I've often had to send to the compost heap, but not any more. Why compost them when they have gone black and are overripe? The Japanese tell us these are even more healthy for us than the beautiful just ripe yellow bananas. Instead of composting over-ripe bananas I peal them, put them in a zip-lock bag and drop them in the freezer for later use in breads, cakes, muffins, almost anything you can bake except maybe pastry. Of course, if the bananas are growing wigs, legs or their own garden, then that's where they belong: in the garden! That's where I'll put them, in the garden. They make magnificent manure just as they are, skins an'all. Just dig a hole, drop them in and cover them with dirt wherever you have some plants that need a little help on their way to blooming or producing nourishment.

Okay, enough gardening; let's get back to the kitchen. These muffins are healthy and delicious, but don't expect them to be soft, airy and luscious. Tasty they may be, but they are more like bread than cake with some surprising ingredients, but they all work together. When you eat these muffins you will know you are getting nourishment. Taken with coffee, tea or whatever is your choice of beverage, they make a delicious breakfast, snack or munchies satisfier.

Ingredients:
For the batter:
500ml flour
60ml sour cream
60ml caramel sauce
60ml brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
60ml melted butter
2 ripe bananas
5ml vanilla
2.5ml salt
2.5ml sodium bicarbonate
7.5ml baking powder

For the crumble:
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup oats
50ml melted butter
5ml cinnamon

Method:
Preheat the oven to 200 C.
In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients except the flour.
When completely combined, fold in the flour in 2 or 3 additions. Mix only until the flour is completely combined.
Fill a 12-cup muffin tin with muffin liners and fill these with your batter. You should get 12 muffins.
For the crumble topping, combine all the ingredients, the using a spoon, sprinkle over all of the muffins, keeping as much as possible in the middle of the muffin.
Bake for 12-15 minutes. Remove the muffins from the oven and allow to cool in the pan before removing.
Store in an airtight container - if there are any left to store. My family simply devours them one time!