Banana Muffins Swirled with Dulce de Leche

Okay, so I did a thing. A really, really good thing. I took a whole jarful of that luscious homemade dulce de leche and swirled it into bakery-style banana muffins. Eeeeeeeeeee!! How awesome does that sound?! Banana pairs so well with the milky caramel flavor of the dulce de leche. It’s a new take on an amazing flavor pairing. And, perfectly okay to eat for breakfast!

Bakery-Style Banana Muffins at Home

Not only have I been on a dulce de leche kick lately, adding it to everything in sight, but I’ve also been on a bakery-style muffin kick lately. When I was pondering yet another way to infuse my homemade dulce de leche into more recipes, banana muffins immediately came to mind. Bananas and milk caramel flavor pair really well together. Plus, I wanted to provide a really good alternative recipe for banana bread that uses up all those overripe bananas we all have from time to time. I mean, banana bread is amazing, let’s be honest. Buuuuuut, I am one of those people who tends to buy a bunch of bananas every week and every week they sit on my counter without being eaten. Sooooo, I practically have no choice but to bake something new and different with them every now and then!

Muffin or Cupcake? You decide

This banana muffins recipe is a riff on my Bakery-Style Double Chocolate Chip Muffins. In that post, I talk about the difference between a muffin and cupcake. If you haven’t read it, I’ll give you a big hint – there’s not much of a difference. With a fair amount of dulce de leche swirled in, I think it’s fair to say these banana muffins sit squarely on the border between muffin and cupcake!

Ingredients that make these banana muffins magical

Just like my other bakery-style muffins, these babies are large and in charge. They have beautifully domed muffin tops (no, not THAT kind of muffin top). And, they are moist and sufficiently banana-y and caramel-y from the dulce de leche. I use oil and milk and sour cream all of which help these muffins turn out the perfect texture and height, just like you’d find in your corner bakery.

Tips for Making This Recipe

• Be sure your bananas are sufficiently overripe. They should be heavily mottled brown and black, but not so much so that they’re mushy inside. You can see in the photos the bananas I used. They should be bright yellow, certainly not green at all, and the top of the banana should bend off very easily when you peel it. Overripe bananas provide sweetness and deep banana flavor to these muffins
• Layer in the dulce de leche by scooping a small amount of batter into each muffin cup then adding in a dollop of dulce de leche. Swirl it into the batter gently using a toothpick. Repeat these two layers one more time. Top with a sprinkling of sparkling sugar for added texture
• If your dulce de leche is too cold or too thick, warm it in the microwave for 15-20 seconds and stir to loosen it up a bit. You can also add in a splash of milk to loosen it up once it’s been warmed up. This will make it easier to swirl in to the batter. Also, if the dulce de leche is too thick or cold, it may sink straight to the bottom of the muffin batter
• Starting with a hotter than normal baking temperature helps achieve the nice, rounded, dome look on your muffins. The recipe calls for baking the muffins for 5 minutes at 425 degrees F then lowering the temperature to 350 degrees F for the remainder of the baking time

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