Banana Walnut Muffins

ByDavid January 13, 2017April 9, 2021

These Banana Walnut Muffins are a classic…just try not to eat all of the streusel first!

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I’ve spent the last week playing with my childhood toys. More specifically, I’ve spent the last week playing with baseball cards. (Along with a few football and even a pack of golf cards. Yes, golf.) Over the last couple of years, I’ve slowly been transferring stuff from my Mom’s house down in Nashville to our house here in upstate New York. Every time I’d visit, I’d pack as many childhood toys into my suitcase as possible. And my Mom would do the same whenever she’d come north. After several years, I can finally say that I’m done…at least with the baseball cards.

I knew I had a lot of cards, but I don’t think I realized exactly how many I had. I also didn’t realize how much those cards weigh. But after lugging them through multiple airports, I now know exactly how much they weigh. (Hint: It’s a lot.)

I spent hours upon hours as a kid organizing and reorganizing those cards. In fact, my Dad taught me how to use Excel when I was just 8 years old so that I could create a sortable list of all of my cards. I have a few older cards in there, but most are from the late 80’s and early 90’s. The days of Ken Griffey, Jr. and Barry Bonds (ahem, cheater). As a kid, I imagined I would save these cards for years and years and then one day they’d be worth a lot of money. Great plan, right?

Problem is thousands of other kids had the same idea. After a bit of Googling, I’ve learned that those cards are pretty much worthless. In fact, one article said they have more value as kindling for your fireplace than as a collectible. Ouch. But you know what? I’m keeping those cards! They were a huge part of my childhood, and I’ve stashed them all away under my bed. If nothing else, Robbie can play with them when he gets older.

My Mom is in town now actually (with different childhood toys in tow…), and I decided to make us some tasty Banana Walnut Muffins for breakfast. I used my go-to banana muffin recipe, but I added a twist with a walnut streusel on top. My Mom taught me how to make these banana muffins (and banana bread) years ago, and I still make that recipe quite often. I usually mix walnuts or pecans right into the batter and bake it that way. But this time I used walnuts along with cinnamon to create a crumbly streusel on top of the muffins. Delicious!

I’m not gonna lie. I kinda wanted to lick the streusel off the top of the muffins…before it ever went into the oven. Somehow I managed, though. These Banana Walnut Muffins were quite tasty, and they didn’t last long on the kitchen counter. (I had to run off with a plate to take some photos before anyone could catch me…)

Now that the baseball cards have made their way north, it’s time to turn our attention to the Brio trains and Hardy Boy books. Raise your hand if you remember the Hardy Boys! (I’m sure I’ll be reading those books to Robbie soon…just like my Dad read them to me when I was a kid.) But for now, enjoy the memories…and these Banana Walnut Muffins!