If you like a classic banana nut muffin, you’ll really love my soft and fluffy, high altitude banana pecan muffins. They’re incredibly moist, thanks to mashed bananas, buttermilk and melted butter. And they have the most delicious nutty flavor from the pecans, complemented by cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and a hint of maple extract. This is an easy, high altitude recipe for banana muffins that bake up perfectly with a domed top, that I dipped in sweet and salty maple icing. You can enjoy the muffins plain, of course, and they’re great with or without the icing. Or, add a buttery crumble topping!
You might also love this bourbon banana pudding cake, banana bread coffee cake, and banana cream pie.
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Ingredients
Muffins
- Bananas. Be sure to use very ripe, soft bananas with plenty of brown spots. Over-ripe bananas are sweeter and are easy to mash.
- Granulated Sugar. Adds sweetness and moisture.
- Buttermilk. The moisture and acidity keeps the muffins soft and tender.
- Unsalted Butter. Melted butter adds fat, moisture and flavor. You can also substitute vegetable oil.
- Egg. Creates structure.
- Vanilla + Maple Extracts. Flavor. The maple extract is optional, but adds a lovely flavor to these banana pecan muffins.
- All-Purpose Flour. Adds structure and strengthens the muffin batter as it rises.
- Baking Powder. Leavens the muffins so they rise.
- Coarse Kosher Salt. Balances the sweetness.
- Cinnamon + Nutmeg. Flavor.
- Pecans. Finely chopped pecans (or walnuts) add crunch and a nutty flavor that’s so good with bananas.
Icing (optional)
- Powdered Sugar. Sweetens and thickens the icing.
- Light Corn Syrup. Helps the icing crust over and set.
- Maple Extract. Flavor.
- Milk. Thins the icing.
- Coarse Kosher Salt. Balances the sweetness.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Instructions
Muffins
- Preheat the oven to 400 F, and line a standard muffin pan with 12 paper liners. Lightly spray the papers with non-stick baking spray.
- In a bowl, whisk together the mashed bananas, sugar, buttermilk, melted butter, egg and extracts.
- Separately, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and chopped pecans. (Reserve 2 tablespoons of the pecans for the tops of the muffins.)
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and stir briefly just until moistened; do not over-mix.
- Divide the batter between the muffin cups, filling them nearly full. Sprinkle the batter with the reserved chopped pecans, or, if you’ll be adding the maple icing, save the pecans to sprinkle over the icing.
- Immediately after putting the muffins in the oven, turn the temperature down from 400 F to 375 F. Bake the muffins on the center oven rack for about 18-20 minutes, until the tops are domed and spring back when lightly touched.
- Cool the muffins in the pan for several minutes, then gently transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly while you make the icing.
Icing
- In a bowl, whisk together all the icing ingredients until smooth, using more or less milk for desired consistency.
- Dip the tops of the warm muffins in the icing, or just use a spoon to drizzle it over the muffins. Before the icing sets, sprinkle with the reserved chopped pecans. The icing will start to crust quickly, and will set in about 10-15 minutes.
- Serve the muffins warm, with softened butter.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the icing crust over or stay soft?
Initially, the icing will quickly crust over and set. But when you store leftover muffins in an airtight container, the moisture from the muffins softens the glaze and makes it sticky. Because of this, you may want to only drizzle icing on the muffins you plan to eat right away, and store the un-iced muffins for later.
What else can I top these muffins with?
Banana pecan muffins are fantastic plain, topped with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar, or a buttery streusel crumb topping.
Why do you start the oven temperature at 400 F, then turn it down to 375 F?
The burst of high heat at the beginning gives muffins “oven spring” and helps create the high dome on top as the batter rises.
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High Altitude Banana Pecan Maple Muffins
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
Ingredients
Muffins
- 1 cup mashed bananas, about 2 medium/large, very ripe bananas
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup buttermilk
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 large egg
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp maple extract, optional
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher Salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ½ cup pecans or walnuts, very finely chopped
Maple Icing (optional)
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp light corn syrup
- 1 tsp maple extract
- 1 ½ – 2 tbsp milk
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt
Instructions
Muffins
- Preheat the oven to 400 F, and line a standard muffin pan with 12 paper liners. Lightly spray the papers with non-stick baking spray.
- In a bowl, whisk together the mashed bananas, sugar, buttermilk, melted butter, egg and extracts.
- Separately, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and chopped pecans. (Reserve 2 tablespoons of the pecans for the tops of the muffins.)
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and stir briefly just until moistened; do not over-mix.
- Divide the batter between the muffin cups, filling them nearly full. Sprinkle the batter with the reserved chopped pecans, or, if you'll be adding the maple icing, save the pecans to sprinkle over the icing.
- Immediately after putting the muffins in the oven, turn the temperature down from 400 F to 375 F. Bake the muffins on the center oven rack for about 18-20 minutes, until the tops are domed and spring back when lightly touched.
- Cool the muffins in the pan for several minutes, then gently transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly while you make the icing.
Icing
- In a bowl, whisk together all the icing ingredients until smooth, using more or less milk for desired consistency.
- Dip the tops of the warm muffins in the icing, or just use a spoon to drizzle it over the muffins. Before the icing sets, sprinkle with the reserved chopped pecans. The icing will start to crust quickly, and will set in about 10-15 minutes.
- Serve warm, with softened butter.
Sounds amazing!
Fabulous! I made these at 8,000 feet and just changed from 2 to 1.5 tsp of baking powder, and set oven to 415 F initially then 390 F after putting muffins in. My preference was to not use icing, so I subbed some candied pecan chips for the top (but normal pecans in the batter). I couldn’t find maple extract easily so just used an extra tsp of vanilla instead. These were moist, easy, fast, nutty, and delicious. Thanks for the recipe, definitely a keeper!
Followed exactly and turned out beautifully and delicious!
Turned out exactly as pictured. Thank you Heather! You recipes are well tested and work every time! You bring joy to us challenged high altitude bakers!
Such a nice comment, thank you! 🙂
After two years of living in Colorado trying to adjust my recipes to high-altitude… I realized I could just Google “high-altitude recipes”! These muffins came out PERFECTLY DELICIOUS. Making for someone who can’t have dairy – I did make a few adjustments. Oat milk w a little vinegar (instead of buttermilk), coconut oil (instead of butter), wheat flour (because that’s what I had). The icing made more than I needed but so yummy sprinkled with pecans. Oh, and I doubled the recipe – thank goodness. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this recipe! Thank you so much. Finally a baked good recipe that works in Denver area!
Just used a brand new oven (not labeled in my native English) for my first time baking at high altitude (8400 ft.). Came out perfect!
Hi Heather
I made your banana nut muffins without the optional maple extract and enjoyed them very much. Thank you!
Sandy