I have a deep-seated love of muffins. Something about the domed tops and colorful liners that make me as giddy as an 8-year old to pop a couple of muffins in my face for breakfast. Muffins, for me, are a great way to celebrate a weekend, a snow day, or the fact that you are awake at 4 AM on a Sunday morning for no good reason. Versatile and forgiving, muffins can turn ordinary ingredients into something special, and they are simple enough to make while half-asleep over your 3rd cup of coffee.
The muffins of my childhood came from a pouch of Martha White muffin mix that held the promise of blueberries or strawberries in every bite, which in reality delivered a sugar bomb to the bloodstream without delivering much flavor. Homemade muffins dirty up the same amount of dishes as the pre-packaged stuff and have a much better result. Not to mention that you aren’t desperately scraping the bowl trying to squeeze out that 12th muffin (hands down, my biggest pet peeve of muffin mixes).
So scrounge around and find your cutest muffin liners, your Aunt Suzy’s famous strawberry jam, and another cup of coffee and whip up a batch of muffins that will make Martha White green with envy.
Ingredients
Streusel Topping:
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup rolled oats
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 4 Tablespoons cold butter
Muffins:
- 2 ½ cups all purpose flour
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup milk
- ½ cup 1 stick butter, melted
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup strawberry jam
Instructions
- In a small bowl, mix together the streusel ingredients by using your fingertips to blend the flour, oats, sugar and butter together until it resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a muffin tin with paper liners or spray liberally with cooking spray. In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and mix together the milk, butter, egg and vanilla in the well before incorporating it with the flour. Mix the batter together until everything is moist (the batter will be lumpy).
- Fill each muffin liner halfway with batter making a divot with the back of a spoon in the middle of each, then place a teaspoon of jam in the center of each. Fill each muffin liner the rest of the way with the remaining batter. Top each muffin with a spoonful of streusel topping.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the tops of the muffins are golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.
- Tip: Use your favorite jam, jelly or preserves as the filling!
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