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Monday, April 14, 2014

Coffee Cake Muffins

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coffee cake muffins

The best part of maternity leave, besides hanging with Baby Brecks of course, has been spending so much time with family and friends. I'm fortunate enough to have a sister (two actually, but one's abroad right now!) and two sisters-in-law in St. Louis, all of whom have schedules that keep them around during the day. As a result, I've spent a ton of time with Julia, Erin, and Kate, and have cherished this chance to spend extra time with them before I go back to work. 
coffee cake muffins
One Thursday morning, Erin headed over with Eoin, my nephew, and Kate headed over with Huxley, her babysitting charge, and we had a playdate of sorts. Nevermind that the kids were all less than half a year old and didn't necessarily "play" together, doing more eating and sleeping than anything else. Us ladies took advantage of the chance to hang out and eat muffins! True to their name, these are basically individual portions of coffee cake. The tender muffins are sweet and cinnamon-packed and topped with a buttery, crumbly streusel, like all good coffee cakes are. They're good warm from the oven or at room temperature, and if you can't eat all of them at once, freeze them and pull them out on a day you're craving coffee cake but don't want to whip up a huge pan of it!
coffee cake muffins


One Year Ago: Sour Cream Pancakes
Two Years Ago: Favorite Spring Dishes and BBQ Chicken Pizza
Three Years Ago: Raisin and Pine Nut Asparagus and Chocolate Bird's Nest Cookies
Four Years Ago: Lucky Charms Treats and Cranberry Orange Sour Cream Loaf

Coffee Cake Muffins
from Baking Bites

Ingredients:
for the topping-
-1/2 cup butter, room temperature
-1 cup brown sugar
-1 tbsp ground cinnamon
-1/2 tsp salt
-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
-2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

for the muffins-
-2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I did a mix of all-purpose and whole wheat)
-1/2 tsp baking soda
-1/2 tsp baking powder
-1/2 tsp salt
-1/2 cup butter, room temperature
-1 cup sugar
-3 large eggs
-2 tsp vanilla extract
-1 1/4 cups buttermilk

Directions:
1. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners (note--I only got about 18 muffins).
2. Prepare the streusel by creaming the butter and brown sugar in a large bowl. Mix in cinnamon, salt, and vanilla. Slowly blend in the flour until it is incorporated and mixture is crumbly. Refrigerate while preparing the muffins.
3. To prepare the muffin batter, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.
4. Cream butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl until light. Beat eggs in, one at a time, followed by the vanilla extract. Alternate adding some of the flour mixture and some of the buttermilk, ending with the flour. Mix just until combined.
5. Fill each of the muffin cups about 1/3 of the way. Top each with a small handful of streusel. Top with remaining batter, followed by the remaining streusel.
6. Bake muffins for 17-20 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean and streusel is light brown.
7. Remove muffins from muffin tin and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.
*I stored muffins in an airtight container in the fridge
*Muffins freeze well!