Thursday, December 18, 2008

- Coffeecake Muffins

COFFEECAKE MUFFINS

Yield: 12 good size muffins

Streusel
8 T granulated sugar
1/3 c packed light brown sugar
1/3 c flour
1 T cinnamon
4 T unsalted butter, cut into ½ inch pieces and chilled
½ c chopped pecans

Batter
3 large eggs
1½ c sour cream
2¼ tsp vanilla extract
2½ c flour
¾ c granulated sugar
1½ T baking powder
½ tsp salt
8 T unsalted butter, cut into chunks and softened

Streusel:

Pulse 5T of the granulated sugar, the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and butter in a food processor until just combined. Remove ¾ c of this mixture for the filling and set aside. Add pecans and the remaining 3T of granulated sugar to the remaining mixture in the food processor and pulse until the nuts are coarsely ground. Transfer to a bowl and set aside for streusel topping.

Batter:

Adjust oven rack to the middle position and preheat oven to 375ยบ. Spray the muffin tin liberally with Pam. Whisk eggs, sour cream and vanilla in a bowl and set aside. In the food processor, pulse the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter in a food processor until the mixture resembles wet sand. Transfer this mixture to a large bowl. Using a rubber spatula, gradually fold in the egg mixture until just combined. Place 2T of batter in each muffin cup and top with 1T of the cinnamon filling (not the streusel). Using the back of a spoon, press cinnamon filing lightly into batter, then top with remaining batter. Sprinkle streusel topping evenly over the batter.

Bake until muffins are light golden and toothpick inserted into centre comes out with a few dry crumbs attached, 22 to 28 minutes. Cool muffins in tin for about 5 minutes, then carefully transfer to rack to cool.

Notes:

(i) I like large muffins!
(ii) I increased the batter portion of this recipe to get a better size muffin (see note i);
(iii) I don’t use paper liners as I find the muffins end up too small (see note i);
(iv) If you don’t press the cinnamon into the batter the muffin will separate once it is baked and cooled (not necessarily a bad thing);
(v) A great tip that came with this recipe was to use a round cookie cutter as a guide when sprinkling the streusel topping on each muffin (otherwise the streusel will end up on the muffin tin);
(vi) If you end up with leftover streusel just put it in a Ziploc bag and store it in the freezer for another time;
(vii) For anyone who doesn’t know how picky I am, I never eat day old baking so what doesn’t get eaten on the day of baking is put into the freezer. The original recipe does say that these can be placed in an airtight container for up to 3 days. My spin on that would be use a tin. Plastic containers bring out too much moisture in muffins and alter the texture.

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