Recipe: Quick Banana Coffee Cake Streusel Muffin

If I'm going to bother to bake something, it had better be good.

And it needs to be easy and create as little mess as possible. If it also could combine the toasty, warm, cinnamony flavors of my favorite baked goods — banana bread, coffee cake and streusel toppings — the chances of me actually cranking up the oven increase dramatically.

Thus was the inspiration for these muffins, which are made entirely in the food processor, call for no unusual ingredients, come together in about 10 minutes, bake in just about 20 minutes, and have a flavor that will make you want to eat until your stomach hurts.

To take these even more over the top, you could drizzle them with caramel sauce just before serving and/or add white chocolate chips to the batter before baking. If you wanted to make these healthier, you could use white whole-wheat flour instead of all-purpose.

Quick Banana Coffee Cake Streusel Muffin

Makes 12 muffins

For the streusel topping:

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, cut into small pieces and softened

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

For the muffins:

3/4 cup sour cream

2 bananas

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large egg

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, cut into small pieces and softened

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 12-cup muffin pan with baking spray, or line it with paper muffin cups.

2. To prepare the streusel, in a food processor, combine the flour, butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. Process for 15 seconds, or until well blended and resembles slightly clumpy wet sand. Transfer to a bowl and set aside

3. To prepare the muffins, in the food processor combine the sour cream and bananas. Process until smooth. Add the cinnamon, ginger, salt, vanilla, egg and brown sugar. Process again until smooth. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and butter. Pulse only until combined. Add 1/4 of the streusel mixture, pulse the processor 2 to 3 times.

4. Scoop a generous 1/4 cup of batter into each muffin cup. Top each with a heaping spoonful of streusel topping, pressing it lightly into the top of the batter. Bake for 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted at the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes.

Nutrition information per muffin (values are rounded to the nearest whole number): 310 calories; 97 calories from fat (31 percent of total calories); 11g fat (7 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 48 mg cholesterol; 49 g carbohydrate; 5 g protein; 1 g fiber; 172 mg sodium.

Editor's note: Food Editor J.M. Hirsch is author of the new cookbook "High Flavor, Low Labor: Reinventing Weeknight Cooking."