muffins

I know this sounds insane, but even with the craziness ensuing around me, I find myself pretty calm. Perhaps it is because of the little bit of pre-holiday-planning I took the time to do in November, but I am amazingly laid back for this time of year.

The decorations are all up (except for a few little details). The Christmas cards are started, the baking supplies are bought, I have some Christmas gifts bought, oh and I have enough tape and tissue paper to last me the next 25 Christmases.

With that said, I am able to try some new recipes in the kitchen.

This time of year, I like to make some hot vanilla for the kids when they get off the bus before they start homework. I was wondering what would be a good snack to accompany a hot beverage, and muffins came to mind. Cranberries seemed festive, and adding oatmeal seemed healthy, so I did a little experimenting and came up with these tasty little treats. They are also pretty good to grab on the way out the door for breakfast (Russell had two!)

Cranberry Muffins with Oatmeal Streusel Topping (makes 24 regular sized muffins)

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups coarsely chopped cranberries

For Streusel Topping
1 cup oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 stick unsalted butter melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line muffin tin with paper liners or grease with nonstick spray and set aside.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon and set aside.

In a mixer bowl with paddle attachment, on medium speed mix together sugar, eggs, and oil. Turn mixer to low, add milk and vanilla. Then, with the mixer on low speed add flour mixture very slowly and only mix for a few seconds. It is ok if mixture is lumpy and you can still see flour. Turn off mixer.

Using a spatula, fold in cranberries.

Next, in a medium bowl, mix together streusel topping ingredients and set aside.

Using an ice cream scoop spoon muffin batter into muffin cups about 3/4 of the way full. Then, using a teaspoon, add streusel mixture.

Bake muffins for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool and enjoy.

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To be honest, I’m not really sure what this month’s Smart Cookies recipe could be classified as. They are made like muffins, but are kind of dense like a cake doughnut. Hmmm… Doughins? Muffuts? Doesn’t matter, they are delicious!

Since we all have pumpkin on the brain with Thanksgiving on the way, I was thinking what do people eat for breakfast the morning of Thanksgiving? You don’t want to eat too much, and since the whole day is a celebration (totally justifying eating this much sugar in the morning) I thought it might be nice to have a little treat. I found a few recipes online for Pumpkin Doughnut Muffins, and I combined what I liked about all of them and made my own.

When it comes to Pumpkin flavored things, I like that pumpkin lends itself to being a little spicy. However, I am not a cloves or allspice person. For whatever reason, cloves, which is a very traditional pumpkin pie ingredient, sometimes overtake the taste of the pumpkin for me. I always say, “I’m here for the pumpkin, not for the cloves.” So, I have been substituting with ground ginger, nutmeg, and cinnamon. So far I love that it is warm and autumn like, but not too spicy.

Pumpkin Doughnut Muffins
4 cups all purpose flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
2 sticks of unsalted butter softened
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 15oz can of pumpkin puree
2 extra large eggs

Sugar Coating
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 stick of melted unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray 2 muffin thoroughly with cooking spray and set aside.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger, and set aside.

In a mixer with paddle attachment or large bowl with beaters, beat butter and brown sugar until creamed together. Then, slowly add eggs one at a time. With the mixer on very low speed, then add buttermilk, and mix until well incorporated. Finally, with mixer still on low, add 1/3 of the flour mixture, and half of the pumpkin. Mix until just barely combined. Then, add 1/3 more of the flour mixture and the rest of the pumpkin, followed by the remaining flour mixture. Mix until just combined. (NOTE: Do not over mix)

Using an ice cream scoop, scoop the batter into the muffin tins, and bake for 25 – 30 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes.

While the muffins cool, melt butter in a small bowl and set aside. Then, mix together sugar and cinnamon for sugar coating.

When muffins are cool, dip the top of each muffin into the melted butter and then into the sugar coating mix.

The perfect breakfast for Thanksgiving morning!

For past Smart Cookie recipes, check out the links below:
Oatmeal Dark Chocolate and Dried Cherry Cookies, Lucy Cookies, White Chocolate and Cranberry Blondies, Chocolate Dipped Vanilla Biscotti, Italian Butter Cookies with Lemon Glaze, and Salted Carmel and Dark Chocolate Truffles, Irish Creme Delights, Erin’s Light Lemon Squares, Salted Caramel Brownies, Cran Apple Cookies, Pumpkin Cookies with Cinnamon Glaze.

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Relaxed and Ready: Cranberry Muffins with Oatmeal Streusel Topping

Smart Cookies: Ok, They are Muffins… or Are They Doughnuts