I didn’t want to make another bread, so I decided to adapt the theme into muffins. These muffins are moist, tender, and topped with a crunchy streusel nut topping.

Instead of shredding all of the apple like the bread recipe calls for, I combined the shredded apple with some diced apple. I think I like the texture of the diced apple better, so next time I would do all diced apple.

Adding a swirl of the cinnamon streusel inside the muffins would be great too!

Now when I make muffins, I’m a domed muffin snob. Give me a mile high, fluffy muffin over the flat variety any day. The secret of making sky-scraping muffins has eluded me for a long time, but I recently learned a few tricks that have paid off.

1. Fill your muffin tins full. Not 1/2 way, not 2/3 way. TO THE TOP. Filling only 1/2 to 2/3 full is not enough batter to give you a high-domed muffin. Your recipe that yields 12 regular muffins may only make nine or ten high-domed muffins. If so, fill any empty tins half full with water.

2. You need a thick batter. If you fill your tin with a thin batter, it will flow all over your oven before setting. Your batter should be “spoonable” not pourable.

3. Get your oven hot! I’m talking 425F. Preheat the oven to 425F, then when your muffins have been in for about 5 minutes, reduce the temperature to 375F. If you leave the temperature high, the muffins will bake too quickly, and may become crusty. This initial high temperature will create a burst of steam, which will cause the muffin tops to lift and set.

That’s it! Once you have these tricks under your belt, you’ll never go back to flat muffins again.

Apple Pie Streusel Muffins
prep: 15 min; bake: 25 min; yield: 12 muffins

• 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons low fat plain yogurt
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 3-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 1-1/2 cups shredded or diced apple (peeled and cored)

Streusel:

• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2-3 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 425F. Line a muffin tin with paper liners.

2. For the Streusel: In a small bowl combine the 1/4 brown sugar, flour and cinnamon. Using a fork cut in the butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the chopped nuts, set aside.

3. In a medium bowl combine the flour, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside.

4. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the milk, sugars, yogurt, oil, eggs, vanilla,baking powder, salt and baking soda.
5. Fold in flour, stirring just until incorporated. Gently fold in the apples.

6. Divide the batter between 12 muffin tins, making sure each one is filled to the top.

7. Sprinkle the streusel topping over each muffin.

8. Bake for 5 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 375F and continue baking for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
     

I had the motivation last night to decide I would make muffins for breakfast today.  Probably due to the massive amounts of caffeine I drank before bed, bad idea.  As a result, I didn't fall asleep until almost 3:00am.  At least I had the foresight to measure all my dry ingredients out and have everything ready for this morning.  Snickerdoodles are one of my favorite cookies, and I thought it would be fun to make a muffin version that is dipped in a cinnamon sugar mixture.  They turned out nice and moist, with the same crunchy, crackle effect on top that the cookies have.

Snickerdoodle Muffins

2 sticks butter, unsalted
1 Cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
2 eggs
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 1/4 Cup buttermilk
1 1/2 Cup all-purpose flour
3/4 Cup whole wheat pastry flour (or whole wheat flour)
1 Cup sugar mixed with 2 Tbsp cinnamon in a small bowl, for rolling

Pre-heat your oven to 500 degrees.  Cream the butter and sugar together until soft.  Add the vanilla and almond extracts.  Add the eggs in one at a time, mixing after each one until incorporated.  In a separate bowl, combine the flours, baking soda, baking powder, cream of tartar, and nutmeg.  

Add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk alternately to the butter mixture, starting with the flour and ending with the flour.  Scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally.  Using an ice cream scoop, scoop out the batter and drop in the cinnamon sugar mixture.  Sprinkle the sugar all over the batter, then drop into a greased muffin pan. 

Lower your oven temperature to 375 degrees, and immediately bake the muffins for 18-20 mins, until the tops are golden.  Muffins are done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Do not over bake.  Remove the pan and let the muffins cool in the pan for about 5 minutes.  Carefully remove.

Tip:  When you put muffins in a very hot oven and immediately drop the temperature, you help create the high peaks that make them attractive.


Source: adapted from culinary concoctions by peabody

Today I realized I hadn't made muffins in a very long time.  So long in fact, that when I started making them my little buddy said, "Yay, cupcakes!"  He has obviously never seen me make muffins for breakfast.  Some might argue that the line between muffins and cupcakes is very thin, but I think these little muffins are decidedly more on the wholesome muffin side.  I adapted the recipe for Allspice Crumb Muffins from Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan.

I started to make the recipe as written, with all-purpose flour.  If I'm making a recipe for the first time, I usually follow it exactly to see how it turns out before I start with my "healthier" substitutions. But this time I decided to just go for it, and they turned out pretty good.  Using whole wheat pastry flour allowed them to be lighter than using regular whole wheat flour.  They stayed moist and I could really taste the allspice flavor, which I think complemented the nuttier taste of the whole wheat pastry flour.  As expected, they didn't rise quite as high as they would have had I used all-purpose flour, but that didn't bother me...or my son who loved his "cupcakes".


Whole Wheat Allspice Crumble Muffins

For the muffins:
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup turbinado sugar (if using regular sugar; 1/2 cup white sugar & 1/4 light brown sugar)
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick (8 Tbsp) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs
3/4 cup whole milk
1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
Grated zest of 1 lemon (optional)

For the crumb topping:
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup turbinado sugar (or light brown sugar)
1/2 tsp ground allspice
5 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
                             
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place rack in center of oven.  Butter or spray 12 count regular-size muffin pan, or I just used paper cups in the muffin pan.  Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.

Streusel: In a small bowl make the crumb topping: Combine flour, turbinado/brown sugar and allspice together.  Add the cut up cold butter and using your fingers, work the butter into the dry ingredient until you have pea sized crumbs.  Place in the refridgerator white you prepare the muffins.

Muffins: In a large bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, allspice and salt together.  In a separate bowl, whisk the cooled melter butter, milk and vanilla together until well combined.  Now pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients, and gently stir with a spatula to blend.  It is OK if the batter remains lumpy, this is how it should look.  If you want to use the lemon zest, stir it into the batter now.  Divide the batter evenly between the muffin cups, and sprinkle some of the crumb topping over each muffin,.  Use your fingers to gently press the crumbs into the batter.

Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Place the pan on a cooling rack and let sit for 5 minutes before removing muffins from the pan.



(adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours)