Coffee Cake Muffins

adapted from Alexandra's Kitchen

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup pecans

1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 stick unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces and softened (+ 1 tbsp)

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup sour cream

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 12-cup muffin tin and set aside.

Process nuts, brown sugar, and cinnamon in food processor until nuts are size of sesame seeds, about ten 1-second pulses. Transfer mixture to a medium bowl.

Return bowl and metal blade to food processor, add flour, granulated sugar, and salt and process until combined. Sprinkle the 1 stick of butter evenly over flour mixture and process until butter is oat-sized, about eight 1-second pulses.

Remove 1 cup of flour-butter mixture and stir with fork into reserved pecan/brown sugar mixture until combined to make streusel.

Set aside 3/4 cup of the streusel for muffin batter and save the remaining portion for topping muffins.

Note: At this point I added an additional tablespoon of butter to the streusel for topping the muffins.

Transfer remaining flour mixture, and 3/4 cup streusel to a large bowl. Mix until combined, then make a well.

In a separate bowl, whisk together sour cream, egg, and vanilla. Add to flour mixture, and gently stir until combined.

Divide batter among 12 muffin cups and sprinkle with streusel, pressing lightly so that streusel sinks slightly into batter.

Bake until toothpick inserted in center of muffin comes out with several crumbs clinging to it, about 22 minutes.

Cool muffin tin on wire rack for 2 minutes. Using tip of paring knife, loosen muffins and gently transfer from tin to wire rack; cool for 5 minutes and serve warm.

The Best Blueberry Muffins

adapted from See Brook Cook

INGREDIENTS

Jam:

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

1 tsp sugar

Muffins:

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

1 1/8 cups sugar

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 cups whole-wheat flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp table salt

2 large eggs

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 cup buttermilk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

Begin by making the jam: bring 1 cup of blueberries and 1 teaspoon of sugar to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook the berries, mashing with a spoon several times to break some of the berries open, stir frequently until mixture is thickened and reduced to about a ¼ cup (about 6 minutes). Transfer to small bowl and cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, adjust your oven rack to upper-middle position and heat 425º. Spray muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.

Whisk all purpose and whole-wheat flour, baking powder, and salt together in large bowl.

In a separate bowl, whisk 1 1/8 cups sugar and eggs together until thick and texture is smooth. Slowly whisk in butter and oil until combined. Whisk in the buttermilk and vanilla until combined.

Using a rubber spatula, fold the egg mixture and the remaining cup of blueberries into the flour mixture until just moistened-batter will be very lumpy with a few spots of dry flour; do not overmix.

Divide the batter equally among the prepared muffin cups-batter should completely fill cups and mound slightly.

Spoon a teaspoon of cooked berry mixture into center of each mound of batter. Use a chopstick or skewer to gently swirl the berry jam into the batter using figure-eight motion.

Bake until the muffin tops are golden and just firm, about 17 to 19 minutes (about 25 minutes for large muffins) rotating muffin tin from front to back halfway through baking.

Cool muffins in muffin tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and cool 5 minutes before serving.

Blueberry-Raspberry Muffins

adapted from Emeril Lagasse of The Food Network

INGREDIENTS
Topping:

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons butter, softened

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons finely chopped walnuts

1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

Muffins:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon grated lemon zest

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 large eggs

1 stick unsalted butter, melted

1 cup buttermilk

3/4 cup fresh blueberries

3/4 cup fresh raspberries

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.

To make the topping, in a medium bowl, mix together the topping ingredients until crumbly. Set aside.

In a small bowl, rub lemon zest and sugar together.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar-lemon zest mixture, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs with the melted butter. Add the buttermilk and whisk to combine.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir just to combine. Batter will be somewhat lumpy; do not overmix.
Gently fold in the blueberries and raspberries so the berries do not break open and pour into the prepared muffin tin. Crumble the streusel topping over the muffins and bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes.

Let cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then remove and cool on wire racks.

Blackberry-Lime Muffins

Adapted from two peas & their pod

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup sugar

Zest of 2 limes

1/4 cup canola oil

1 large egg

1/3 cup buttermilk

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup fresh blackberries

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a muffin pan with 9 paper liners or spray with cooking spray. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder.

In a small bowl, add the sugar and lime zest. Rub sugar and zest together until fragrant. Add sugar and zest to the flour mixture. Whisk ingredients together.

In a glass measuring cup or small bowl, mix canola oil, egg, buttermilk, lime juice, and vanilla extract together.

Pour the wet ingredients over the flour mixture. Slowly stir together, the batter will be thick. Don't over mix. Gently fold in the blackberries.

Fill 9 muffin cups with the batter.

Bake muffins for 17-20 minutes, or until muffins are golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Let muffins cool on a cooking rack.

Snickerdoodle Muffins

from eat me, delicious

INGREDIENTS
2 sticks unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

3/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 1/4 cup sour cream

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

*1/2 cup sugar and 1 tablespoon cinnamon for rolling*

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350F.

Cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time and mix until each is incorporated.Add vanilla.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, cream of tartar and nutmeg.

Add the flour mixture and the sour cream alternately by thirds to the butter-egg mixture.

Using an ice cream scoop, scoop out muffin batter one at a time and drop into the cinnamon sugar mixture, and roll.

Place into greased muffin tin. Bake for approximately 20-22 minutes or until golden brown.