I was noodling over what to write and realized that everything I had to say was a bummer. So you know what? To hell with that. Got the January Blues? I’ve got the cure :) And you don’t need to read my life story, or close a wack-a-mole’s worth of pop up ads to get it.

For the muffins:

• 3 overripe bananas (mashed)
• 1/3 Cup melted butter
• 1 tsp baking soda
• Pinch Salt
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

For the topping:

• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup flour
• 2 tablespoons melted butter

Preheat oven to 350, line your muffin tin.
Mix the mashed bananas, butter, egg, vanilla, sugar and salt in one bowl, with some sort of speed mixer if you’ve got one.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon and baking soda. Sift together.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry, mixing until by hand just combined. DON’T OVER MIX.
(At this stage, if you like, throw a half cup of crushed walnuts in there).

In another bowl, combine the brown sugar, flour, butter and cinnamon. I like to combine the dry ingredients first, nuke the butter for 30 seconds, and then add it while stirring with a fork to get a nice crumbly mix.

Add the batter evenly between the muffin tins. I like to use an ice cream scoop for this myself. You want to go to about 2/3 of a cup full. Take your crumb topping and sprinkle it generously over the top of each muffin.

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. I find this time can fluctuate quite a bit depending on how much banana I was working with, so check yours regularly and don’t be afraid to add a little extra time on there.

Let them sit and cool for about 5 minutes in the tin, then take them out to finish cooling.

Enjoy a small, bit of pure warmth and happiness with a sweet crumbly topping and forget about everything else for just a little bit :)

You deserve this time. Do not let the news interfere with your muffin.