The wandering traveller has returned home, for the foreseeable future – or at least until the wanderlust strikes again! I’m home now from a week’s camping in Norway (It was heaven! A blog post will follow soon!) which followed our family trip to Brussels that was close on the heels of my epic two week bikepacking trip through the highlands of Scotland (again, blog posts will follow once I get the time to sift through all the photos and write about them!). So many different places in such a short space of time. So much seen!
It’s been a summer of adventure, that’s for sure!
I’m home now, back in the comforts of my own kitchen and faced with a fruit bowl filled with incredibly over ripe bananas.
But first, a little bit about Bergen.
It rained there, a lot. I was rained on 5 days out of the 7 I spent there – apparently it’s been the worse summer for rain in Bergen since 1929. So, when the sun shone brightly one morning, and stayed in the sky for the full day, I headed to the mountains just outside the city for a spot of hiking.
It was sweltering with heat and I was sorely tempted to take a dip in Storevatnet lake on Sandviksfjellet mountain, pictured above. This place was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to.
The hill you see to the left, above, was covered in wild blueberries. I haven’t seen wild blueberries since my Canadian childhood! Aah, so many summers of my youth spent picking blueberries – one for the bowl, ten for me. It was slow going in the summer sun.
I still had blueberries on the brain when my husband and children collected me from the airport (during the summer months there’s a direct flight from Shetland to Bergen), so I popped a big packet of them into our supermarket trolley en route home. Shop bought are never as good as wild, but they’d do.
When faced with a mountain of over ripe bananas and these blueberries I quite fancied making blueberry banana muffins, and I found a lovely sounding recipe for banana crumb muffins in a recipe notebook my grandmother sent me, so I tweaked it a bit, UK-ifying the measures and adding a generous portion of juicy blueberries.
A wholly successful endeavour.
As an aside – my bike is broken and I’m currently off road. Thanks to the ScotRail strike in June which forced my travelling companion and I to alter our plans (and for us to miss the flying lessons I had booked in Perth! *shakes angry fist at ScotRail*) we were forced to either a) cycle from Fort William to Aberdeen to catch the ferry home (after cycling 400 miles and climbing Ben Nevis we weren’t keen on this option) or b) find an alternate way to get to Aberdeen. None of the car hire places in Fort William offer one way car hires, so the bus it was.
To cut a long story short (*shakes angry fist at CitiLink and their cycle-unfriendly policies)(*HUGE thanks to Stagecoach who know how to treat their customers*) we had to disassemble our bikes and wrap them in layers of black bin bags and duct tape before we were allowed to put them in the underbus storage on the CitiLink bus. The bashing about underneath has caused some damage to the gear derailer and it doesn’t work any more. Tweaking has made it worse and now the bike is unrideable. It’s got a date with the Shetland Community Bike Project today, so I should hopefully be back on the road soon!
Pictured above, our youngest son (age 7), taking a muffin break while trying his best to fix the derailer for me, bless his cotton socks.
The generous sized muffin (we all like a big breakfast muffin, right?) are incredibly soft and moist with little bursts of blueberry throughout. The cinnamon scented streusel topping adds a lovely crunch texture and appetite stimulating aroma to the muffin.
All in all, they’re a pretty fantastic muffin if I do say so myself, and they didn’t last long in our house!
How do you use up over ripe bananas? Let me know in the comments!
Banana Blueberry Streusel Muffins
Ingredients
for the muffin batter
- 250 grams plain flour
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 75 grams butter melted and cooled
- 3 medium bananas mashed
- 170 grams caster sugar
- 1 large egg beaten
- 175 grams blueberries
for the streusel topping
- 75 grams light musocvado sugar
- 2 tbsp plain flour
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tbsp butter
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375 F/190 C/ 170 C fan and place large paper cases in a 12 hole muffin tin.
- Sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt and set aside.
- Mash the banana in a separate bowl and add the cooled melted butter and egg and mix well.
- In a third bowl, toss the fresh blueberries with two spoonfuls of the flour mixture to coat.
- Add the banana mixture to the flour mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined. Fold in the blueberries with any flour that might be remaining in the bottom of the blueberry bowl.
- Spoon into the prepared muffin cases.
- To prepare the streusel topping, combine the sugar, flour and cinnamon together and rub in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs.
- Generously sprinkle the streusel topping over each muffin and bake, in the centre of the oven, for 20 - 25 minutes. A skewer inserted into the centre will come out clean.
- Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, or eat warm for breakfast with coffee!
OTHER RECIPES TO USE UP OVER RIPE BANANAS
3 Ingredient 100 Calorie Chocolate Fudgesicle by Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary
Chocolate Banana Cardamom Muffins from The Hedgecombers
Pineapple, Banana and Chocolate Flapjacks by Tinned Tomatoes (vegan)
Healthy Banana Bread by Little Sunny Kitchen
Black Banana and Chocolate Chip Bannocks by Foodie Quine
Banana Weetabix Blueberry Muffins by Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary
Roasted Banana & Cream Ice Lollies by Kavey Eats
Spiced Banana and Orange Milkshake by Coffee & Vanilla
Vegan Banana Bread by Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary
Banana Pudding by Fab Food 4 All
Streusel Topped Banana Bread by Family Friends, Food
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Mum of three, daydream adventurer, OU Life Sciences graduate, occasional crafter, ex-pat Canadian & quite possibly Britain's most northerly food blogger.
Heather Haigh says
They look really delicous, I love blueberries and it’s always nice to see new recipes with them.
Andrew Petrie says
Tasty, healthy, and ease, this one ticks all the boxes.
Lisa (BadMammy.com) says
These look absolutely incredible. Really sorry to hear about your bike, sounds so frustrating!
Heather Haigh says
These look and sound totally delicous, wha a favumous flavour combination.
Annie B says
Blueberries are my fave! They always go in my overnight oats but I need to make these!
Sue Hall says
Those muffins look delicious.
With over ripe bananas I do one of three things, the ubiquitous Banana Bread, or chop banana into chunks, freeze and then whizz up and you have delicious banana ice cream or the simplest ever Banana Oat cookies. Just half a cup of oats mixed with each mashed ripe banana and then dolloped onto a baking tray and cooked in a medium oven for 15 minutes.
nicol says
oh my, the look so delicious! two of my favourite things in one.
Sally - Mycustardpie says
Hope your bike is back on the road soon. These muffins look fabulous. Particularly like the picture with your sons hand in it.
Elizabeth says
I’m back on the road again! The bike project went above and beyond the call of duty replacing the derailer, sorting out the pannier rack which was interfering with the brakes, sorted the stiff brake discs and put my rear tyre on the correct way (I’d put it on backwards!). 🙂
Rachel says
Blueberries are the one fruit I really dislike, but cooked this way and used this way, I think I might like them more x
MELANIE EDJOURIAN says
OMG those muffins look amazing, i bet my kids and hubby would love me to try making these!!!!!
tanya brannan says
These just look delicious!! That topping is so different and unusual. I look forward to testing these out x
The London Mum says
Oh my goodness, how delicious! gonna have to try and make these.
Liz Mays says
What an awesome way to use those bananas and blueberries. I have a couple of containers of frozen blueberries and some frozen overripe bananas I need to use.
Hannah says
These look delicious – I will have to try and recreate them!
Kelly says
Yum yum…these sound like the muffins of my childhood Nova Scotia summers.
Elizabeth says
I grew up in Nova Scotia! The blueberries of Norway reminded me of my Cape Breton summers 🙂
Jess says
These sound amazing, overripe bananas are perfect for baking! They usually just end up in banana bread in our house…
Sarahjane says
These look fantastic!! Getting some serious food envy here! I love blueberries! Your trip looked beautiful too
Ana De- Jesus says
Blueberry muffins are my absolute fave how did you know lol! I love the sound of adding banana to the mix too!
Dannii @ Hungry Healthy Happy says
Beautiful photos, and I could so go one of these muffins right now. I am blueberry obsessed at the moment.
Jemma @ Celery and Cupcakes says
These do look yummy! The streusel topping has me sold.
tp keane says
oh my god, these are just to die for. I better not show the kids or they’ll eat them all on me.
Emily Leary says
Look at that topping and that crumb! *swoon*
Rhian Westbury says
Oh can’t wait to hear about Norway. Interesting mix for the muffins x
Charli Bruce says
These sound absolutely gorgeous! We normally just make banana bread with our overly ripe bananas! xx
BloggerMummyLauren says
Oh these look delicious, it’s making me drool little!
Looks like you visited such a beautiful area of the world, that lake does look rather inviting.
Sorry to hear about your bike, sounds like really bad service from CitiLink, hope you get sorted soon!
Sarah says
These muffins look PERFECT. I swear blueberries are the best ingredient in a muffin!
Yummy recipe, thank you for sharing xx
Hannah Clementson says
I’m always really funny with fruit. I don’t enjoy the texture when it’s not cooked. However blueberries in muffins is ALWAYS delicious. These look lovely!
Tara says
Another fab recipe, thanks! Going to share with my bf.
Life as Mum says
Such beautiful photos and those muffins look so delicious
Harriet from Toby & Roo says
Oh my oh my! I am drooling on my laptop 🙂
StressedMum says
These sound amazing, I am in a baking mood at the moment, but not been inspired at what to make (until now), unfortunately apart from a few apples and strawberries my fruit bowl is empty. I will be trying these though x
Stella says
OMG! I love muffins so much. These look very delicious. Thanks for sharing with us.
LaaLaa says
Ah no, the bike smh! Unbelieveable but how sweet of your son to try and help fix it! The muffins look delicious! I’m not a fan of blueberries but I do love the smell of muffins.
Helen | Wonderfully Average says
Oh these sound amazing! I’ve pinned it for later. Sorry to hear about your bike troubles. My son (2 years old) loves it when I freeze overripe bananas on lolly sticks- he thinks they’re ice lollies!
Jo says
I adore the crumbly crispy looking tops, they add a really rustic feel to them. Makes them look a little healthier, meaning i can have 2??!
Toni @ Gym Bunny Mummy says
These look absolutely incredible, gorgeous photos
Colette says
The muffins sound amazing.
What a shame your bike has suffered so much at the hands of the bus!
Laura @ dearbearandbeany says
These look delicious, so crunchy on top. Yes, the bigger the better for me when it comes to muffins X
Lyndsey O'Halloran says
I love banana muffins, I love blueberry muffins… how could I not love these too?!
Camilla says
Love these muffins, have never put a Streusak topping on anything before and realky shoyl,! Thanks for linking to my pudding☺
Jordanne says
As always I want to eat up your cooking!! The pictures make me hungry and I just feel like I need to get my baking equipment out pronto!
Jordanne || Thelifeofaglasgowgirl.co.uk
Dean of Little Steps says
That looks absolutely delicious! Sorry you had a bad experience with CitiLink but I’m glad you didn’t allow this to ruin your adventure 🙂