Tomorrow is a very special day in New York City; a momentous occasion that constitutes a Christmas tradition for many twenty-something Manhattanites. For my friends and I, the second Saturday in December is one we’ve been looking forward to for months, counting down the days, planning our outfits, conspiring and daydreaming.
Santacon is, as the name suggests, a Santa Claus Convention – the largest I’m aware of, in fact. According to their website, “Santacon is a non-denominational, non-commercial, non-political and non-sensical Santa Claus convention that occurs once a year for absolutely no reason.” What could bebetter than that?!
Adults, mostly young but some old, from all over the five boroughs, dress in their holiday finest and congregate in TBD locations all over the city, singing carols, spreading cheer, and of course, causing a bit of holiday mayham. Santaconners don anything and everything from Santa suits to reindeer antlers, jingle bells and yamukahs – as long as it is holiday related in some way, it’s fair game!
As you might imagine, the best part of Santacon is the hilarity that ensues. Last year, in our group alone, we had a Kirby the Elf, a Christmas Present, several female Santas, a deadbeat Santa, and a human Christmas tree. One friend traipsed around the city catching random twosomes under his portable mistletoe! This year I’m hoping to spot a Yukon Cornelius – or maybe even a Burgermeister Meisterburger! 
I can’t wait to see what hysterical costumes and antics New Yorkers have in store this year when Santacon kicks off tomorrow morning at 9 am! And to keep our caroling crew going strong and spreading Christmas cheer all day long, I whipped up a batch of these sweet, hearty Banana-Nut Crumb muffins to sustain us. While these muffins are definitely a special breakfast treat, they’re small enough to minimize carb-overload, and fairly nutritious since they’re loaded with bananas and walnuts! Fingers crossed that these can provide our Santas with the energy they need to deck all of the halls in NYC tomorrow!
Banana-Nut Crumb Muffins
Makes 12 – 16 muffins
For the muffins:
- 1/2 a cup (1 stick) of softened unsalted butter
- 1 1/4 cups of sugar
- 1/2 tsp of salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup 2% or whole milk
- 2 cups of all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 4 ripe bananas, halved and sliced
- 2/3 cup of chopped walnuts
- A muffin pan and paper liners
Plus this stuff for the crumble:
- 8 T (1 stick) of unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup of chopped walnuts
Method:
Preheat to 375 degrees.
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and airy. Beat in the eggs one at a time until smooth. Separately, combine the flour and baking powder. Then add the dry ingredients to the creamed butter/sugar mixture, alternating with the buttermilk and stirring to combine after each addition.
Fold in the bananas. Toss the walnuts in flour until they are lightly coated and fold them into batter (coating in flour will keep them from sinking to the bottom of muffins). Spoon the batter into the muffin tin, filling each cup about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way full.
Make the crumble by melting the butter in a bowl, and then adding the remaining ingredients and combining. Let the mixture set for a minute, than break into large crumbs by hand and sprinkle over the muffin batter.
Bake muffins for about 30 minutes, until well risen and deep golden. Cool muffins in pan before removing.
