cinnamon streusel muffins

I’m still here, just baking away and trying to be patient.  Really I’m not even 40 weeks yet, so I have no right to be impatient; but we are ready for the baby to be here, and I am beyond ready to not be pregnant anymore.  I know a lot of women love being pregnant/miss being pregnant, and while I’m grateful that I am because of what it means, to be honest it has been a pretty miserable experience for me and I’m ready to be done.

To pass the time, Gerrit and I have been trying to come up with fun things to do every day–ways to distract us and kill time.  We went out for ice cream this weekend.  Last night we went to browse around the bookstore.  Tonight my parents are coming over for dinner.  Tomorrow we’re going out for our anniversary (!)

And since I haven’t been working as much at the office recently in preparation for not being there at all in the coming months, I’ve been trying to find distractions at home, too, which mostly means tackling organization projects I’ve been putting off (the freezer, photos, music) and baking baking baking.

I made these muffins this past Saturday, for no other reason than that they sounded wonderful.  And they were–light and fluffy and sweet and full of warm cinnamon.

Growing up I always thought I was a baker (because precision, measurements, chocolate….), and in recent years have discovered that I am more of a cook than I thought (recipe flexibility, guesstimate measurements, stirring and turning and browning meat…).  I learned to love to cook and started to lose patience for the exactness of baking.  Recently I’m back into it though.  All I want to do is have cookies and muffins and cakes pouring out of my kitchen right now.

This baby really needs to arrive soon though, because there is an old family recipe for 14-layer cake that’s been eyeing me from the recipe box…

Cinnamon Streusel Muffins

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Bake Time: 20 minutes

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients

For the topping:

• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 4 tablespoons unsalted cold butter, diced

For the muffins:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon table salt
• Pinch of nutmeg
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line the cups of a muffin tin with paper liners, or spray them well with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. To make the streusel, combine the flour, sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Stir together. Add in the diced butter and use your hands to work the butter into the dry ingredients, mashing it between your fingertips, until the mixture is crumbly. Set aside.
3. To make the muffins, combine the flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg in a large bowl. Stir together.
4. In a medium sized bowl, combine the melted and cooled butter, eggs, milk, and vanilla. Whisk together until smooth.
5. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and use a fork or small spatula to gently mix it all together. (Be very careful not to over mix!) Use a small spatula to run across the bottom of the bowl, too, to make sure that all the dry ingredients are incorporated.
6. Use an ice cream scoop to scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tins. Then top each muffin with a bit of the streusel topping, using your fingers to press it down a bit so it sticks on the batter.
7. Bake for 20 minutes, until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let them cool in the muffin pan for about 5 minutes, and then take the muffins out and place them on a wire rack to continue cooling. Serve warm or at room temperature (with butter, preferably).

(adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking From My Home To Yours)