Cinnamon Crackle Top Brunch Muffins

We’ve been travelling, DH and I, and had the great good fortune to hang out with our dear friends Doug and Paulette and of course, shared wonderful meals. Very soon I will post about her incredible chicken dish but I digress.

I got home on Thursday, far too exhausted to both cook and blog so I went with cooking since, hey, Shabbat was upon me. A shout out to my neighbor and dear friend Lisa who hosted us for Friday night. I love you Lees, you are the best neighbor a human being can have!

As summer Fridays give you some leeway since Shabbat comes in later, at the last minute I decided I needed a quick something that was sweet and spicy. It made a hit with Netanel, who wolfed it down on Shabbat day, but I admit, this to my mind is a brunch/breakfast muffin. It wakes up your mouth with a punch of cinnamon and it somehow combines with the brown sugar in the recipe to make this incredible happy zap of spiciness and chewiness that you don’t often get in a muffin.

I felt I needed this to wake me up since I was jet lagging away and I am happy to share this quick and delightful muffin with you.

First, put in bowl the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt and stir.

Then add the brown sugar

I actually mixed this with my fingers, washed natch, since the brown sugar was a bit clumpy and I wanted to be sure it properly integrated into the mixture.

Then add the wet ingredients.

Eggs, soy milk and oil and stir just till you eliminate any big flour pockets. Do NOT overmix or you toughen the muffins. The mixture should be very thick indeed and will look like this:

Don’t worry, it is supposed to be this thick, don’t add liquid or more egg. This is what produces the interesting texture.

Scoop with an ice cream scoop (or a spoon but the scoop will mean you get even amounts in your muffin cups) into the muffin pan.

This time I used muffin papers.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. This is to have them “pop” from the oven heat and then after exactly five minutes, yes, time it, put heat down to 375 and bake for an additional 13-15 minutes depending on your oven. Check after 13 minutes with toothpick to make sure they don’t overbake but it’s approximately 20 minutes in total.

Let cool on wire rack and depending on how long you can stand to wait with the cinnamon calling your name, try to wait at least 15 minutes so that the muffin solidifies to the right consistency. They are awesome, full stop. They also go beautifully with a breakfast array or a snack. They also freeze beautifully.

Cinnamon Crackle Top Brunch Muffins

2 cups all purpose flour

3 teaspoons double acting baking powder

3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 teaspoons cinnamon (really use that much, it’s what makes the difference)

2 eggs

1 cup milk or soy milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees, really.

In a bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon. I used my hands since my brown sugar was clumpy and squeezed and mixed till it was a nicely smooth mixture.

Add the eggs, milk/soy milk and oil and mix together just till no pockets of flour remain but if a tad lumpy it’s okay. Do NOT overmix or you toughen the muffins.

Using an ice scream scooper for even amounts, or a spoon if you haven’t got one, measure the mixture into paper lined muffin cups as evenly as possible. I preferred having slightly larger muffins so I wound up with 10 muffins. If you want medium sized, you will get 12 muffins.

Bake at 425 for 5 minutes exactly and lower oven temp to 375 without opening oven and bake an additional 13-15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean with a few crumbs on it. Check after 13 minutes so you don’t overbake them. A quick note, you are not getting a perfect domed muffin, the texture is different, but it does round up.

Try to wait till they cool on wire rack for about 15 minutes so they get to the slightly chewy texture you desire. Serve with your finest brunch, have as a snack or as breakfast with coffee or tea.