banana walnut muffins with cinnamon crumb topping

This week was exhausting, people... like borderline unbearable. I've been working almost every day, which is a big transition for me. Two days this week, I had to be in at 5am. Both those days, I passed out once I got home.. while it was still light out. Hence, I've been semi radio silent even though I keep saying things will be posted on my blog "soon". Sorry, a girl's gotta sleep. But, instead of resuming faceplant into pillow right now, I'm blogging from bed.. in the dark.. with the John Mayer Where the Light Is concert playing on my t.v. Yes, this is real life.

When asked to come in to work at 5am, I never want to show up empty-handed. So, instead of getting a solid 8 hours of sleep, I did a little test-baking on Tuesday night prior to my 3:30am wakeup. I adapted my Black and White, Chocolate Chip Banana Bread recipe and present you with this:

Banana Walnut Muffins with Cinnamon Crumb Topping
Yields about 28-30 muffins

INGREDIENTS
Banana Walnut Muffin
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups white, granulated sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup canola oil
2 cups mashed ripened bananas (about 5-6 medium-sized bananas)
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts

Cinnamon Crumb Topping
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup white, granulated sugar
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold and cut into chunks


DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake pan(s) with cupcake liners. 
2. Prepare Cinnamon Crumb Topping. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, sugars, and cinnamon. With a pastry cutter, cut in the cold butter until you have large pea-sized crumbs. You can also do this with your hands, but I find a pastry cutter easier, cleaner, and keeps the butter cold. Place this bowl into the refrigerator.
3. Prepare the Banana Walnut Muffin batter. In large bowl, combine the dry ingredients-- flour, white sugar, baking soda, and salt. In a smaller bowl, combine wet ingredients-- eggs, canola oil, mashed bananas. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, carefully stirring until there is no more visible dry ingredients. Do not overmix. Fold in chopped walnuts until evenly dispersed.
4. Put it all together. Fill the cupcakes liners 2/3 full with the batter. Fill the remaining 1/3, up to the rim of the liner, with the crumb topping (about a heaping Tbsp). Gently pat down the crumb topping into the batter.
5. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick come out clean. I also like to test by using my fingertips to gently pressing onto one to see if it is firm enough-- it should spring back a little bit when it's done.
6. Remove muffins from cupcake pans and place on a large tray or cooling rack. Serve warm. Can also be stored in an airtight container once cooled.