Banana Bread with Streusel Topping *

I bring this bread to every social gathering and holiday that we host or we attend.  It gets rave reviews and the kids absolutely devour it.  It is the BEST banana bread I have ever made and won't try another, and believe me, I have made and tried a lot of them.  It goes perfect with cinnamon honey butter.  Trust me - you won't be disappointed and it definitely won't last very long! 

Also, this freezes very well.  I always make a double batch and freeze 1 loaf by wrapping in foil once completely cooled and placing it in a zip lock freezer bag.

Ingredients 

Streusel

• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon butter, cut into pieces

Bread

• 4 very ripe bananas, mashed
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted, cooled to room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• optional: 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Instructions

Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly spray 9x5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray.  Make sure you do this, it will stick and not be easy to get out.

In small bowl, stir together Streusel ingredients except butter. Pinch pieces of butter into flour mixture until crumbly and looks like wet sand. Refrigerate.

In large bowl, mix mashed bananas, melted and cooled butter, 1 cup sugar, the egg, milk and vanilla to combine. In another small bowl, stir together 1 1/2 cups flour, the baking powder, salt and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Fold banana mixture into flour mixture just until combined, taking care not to over mix. Spread batter in loaf pan, smoothing top. Sprinkle streusel evenly over top and chopped walnuts.

Bake in center of oven about 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on cooling rack 5 minutes. Remove from pan; cool at least 15 minutes before slicing.

Makes 10 to 12 slices

Notes: 
For a sweeter, more banana-y bread, make sure to use very ripe and brown-flecked bananas.  I always freeze my bananas when they get ripe (make sure to peel them first then place them in a zip lock freezer bag).  When you ready to use them, thaw them out on the counter and drain the excess water in the bag prior to adding to the bread mixture) or microwave on a defrost setting.

Refrigerating the streusel while you make the batter for the banana bread makes it so the streusel doesn’t just melt into the top of the bread while it bakes and ensures a crunchy, crumbly coating.

NIKKI notes: super moist and best ever. I used 5 medium bananas and 1.5 the amount of topping. Spray the pan with non stick spray and do not use butter (it browns the sides too much). Make sure for topping the butter is cold for good crumbling. Put it in the refrigerator while mixing the other ingredients. Cook exactly 1 hour for perfect results. I used a mixer for the wet ingredients and then stirred in dry ingredients with spatula. Looks exactly like the picture.

Source:  Betty Crocker