Amateurs with Knives

After subjecting my household to an uber-healthy muffin, I decided to go in the opposite direction with dessert-style treat: The coffee cake muffin.

This soft and sweet muffin was also meant to have a drizzle of sugar icing over the top, but when they came out of the oven they looked and smelled so amazing that we didn’t wait to add that step. I’m sure it would have been great.

Coffee Cake Muffins
Adapted slightly from ATK: Baking Illustrated

1/2 cup pecans
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces and softened
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup light sour cream
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a standard 12-cup muffin tin and set aside.

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, process the nuts, brown sugar and cinnamon until the nuts are the size of sesame seeds, about ten 1-second pulses.

Transfer the mixture to a medium bowl and set aside.

Return the bowl and metal blade to the food processor, add the flour, granulated sugar, and salt and process until combined, about five 1-second pulses. Sprinkle the butter evenly over the flour mixture and process until the butter is the size of oats, about eight 1- second pulses.

Remove 1/2 cup of the flour mixture and stir it with a fork into the reserved brown sugar mixture until combined. This will be the streusel. Set aside 3/4 cup of the streusel for the muffin batter and the remaining portion for topping the muffins.

Add the baking powder and baking soda to the remaining flour mixture in the food processor bowl and process until combined, about five 1-second pulses.

Whisk together the sour cream, egg and vanilla in a 1-cup glass measuring cup and add to the flour mixture. Process until the batter is just moistened, about five 1-second pulses. Add the remaining 3/4 cup of the streusel to the flour mixture and process until the streusel is just distributed throughout the batter and the batter looks crumbly, about five 1-second pulses.

Divide the batter among 12 muffin cups. Sprinkle a scant tablespoon of streusel on each muffin, pressing lightly so that the streusel sinks slightly into the batter.

Bake the muffins until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out with several crumbs clinging to it, about 18 minutes, rotating the pan from front to back halfway through the baking time. Avoid over baking. Place the muffin tin on a wire rack and allow the muffins to cool in the tin for 2 minutes. Using the tip of a paring knife, loosen the muffins and gently transfer from the tin to the wire rack. Cool for 5 minutes. Serve warm.

This weekend I was in the mood for a healthier muffin, so I pulled this mouthful from Bon Appetit: Whole Wheat Bran Muffins with Figs and Pecans.

And I liked that it gave me a reason to use the wheat flour and oat bran I have sitting in my pantry.

I liked these muffins and I’m sure you’ll like them too — provided you don’t mind the distinct flavor of oat bran. And I have to say that the most ironic thing about them is that these very healthy muffins are best served warm with butter.

Yep. Bake up something that’s healthy for your bod, then slather it all in tasty, tasty butter.

What, you have a problem with that?

Whole Wheat Bran Muffins with Figs and Pecans
Adapted from Bon Appetit Magazine

Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oat bran
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (packed) diced dried Black Mission figs (about 6 1/2 ounces)
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 1/4 cups reduced-fat buttermilk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

What took the most prep was chopping the figs.

I cut off the little hard nubs on the ends, quartered them and sliced them small. I love figs, so I wish I hadn’t chopped them so tiny — I made them a little smaller than raisins. While I baked up the muffins, I polished off whatever was in the bag. Figs are delicious! They’re very soft and incredibly sweet. If you don’t care for figs, I won’t talk about you behind your back. (Maybe.) Golden raisins would also be a great substitute if you happen to have those on hand.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray a nonstick 12-cup muffin tin with nonstick spray. Whisk next 7 ingredients in bowl. Stir in figs and pecans. Whisk sugar and oil in large bowl. Whisk in eggs, then buttermilk and vanilla. Mix in dry ingredients. Using a 1/4 measuring cup, divide batter among cups.

Bake muffins until browned on top and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 18 minutes. Cool on rack.

After these have cooled to room temperature (or if you’re eating them the next day), they’ll seem dry and much less exciting than when they were warm. I recommend popping them in the microwave for about 15 – 20 seconds.

And then go for some butter.

Welcome back to The Monday Muffin! I’m pretty excited to share this one, since I’ve not been so excited about a muffin since we discovered Mizz Nezz’s Banana Muffins. This one throws its hat into the ring for the title of Greatest Muffin Ever and has a shot at taking it home.

There’s no sugar or streusel topping for this muffin and you won’t miss it. The cake has the perfect amount of sweetness and the blueberries bring a delectable burst of freshness. The cinnamon goes very well with the blueberries — not to mention your house will smell incredible while the muffins are baking.

The process is also everything I believe a muffin should be: simple. Mix the wet ingredients, mix the dry. Combine. Add blueberries. Bake. I whipped these up with ease on Saturday morning and the results were amazing. I should have doubled the batch because they were gone by Sunday night.

Cinnamon Blueberry Muffins
Adapted from Gourmet
Makes 12

3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup 1% lowfat milk
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups blueberries (7 1/2 oz)

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 400°F. Spray a nonstick 12-cup muffin tin with nonstick spray. Whisk together butter, brown sugar, milk, and egg in a bowl until combined well.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. Add milk mixture and stir until just combined. Fold in blueberries gently.

Distribute batter into a nonstick 12-cup (1/2 cup) muffin tin. I used a 1/4 cup to scoop and divide (somewhat) evenly. Bake until golden brown and a wooden pick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.

Stuff face. Be happy. Feel alive.

Last week, I mentioned that I was going to try and be better about the in-process photos. This weekend, I made two amazing things that I can’t wait to share and I definitely concentrated more on the process shots. Unfortunately, with the muffins, that’s kind of all I got. After they came out of the oven and I put them on the cooling rack, I forgot to take that last shot. It doesn’t really matter; you’ll easily understand that they’re muffins by the shot of them looking so perky in the pan.

If you follow my twitter account then you already know the muffin and where it hails from, via the weekly muffin sneak peek: Chocolate Cherry Muffins from Gourmet. They’re a cake-like muffin, rich in chocolate and riddled with chocolate chips and dried cherries. They’re very rich and best served warm, while the chocolate chips are oozing inside the cake. However, when they’re room temperature or chilled from the fridge and served with your hot beverage of choice, you’re not going to be disappointed. The addition of the tart, dried cherries is nice, as it offsets the richness of the chocolate. Without the cherries, the concentrated power of chocolate would be too much.

When melting the chocolate into the butter and milk, be sure to use a double-boiler, or a small pot and a heatproof bowl. Fill the pot with 1 – 2″ water, and set the bowl on top. The water should not touch the bottom of the bowl. This method of melting chocolate is best as it never scorches your chocolate.

After the chocolate is melted, the mixture will seem a little grainy, even after whisking. Don’t worry, because adding the two eggs will create a glossy texture. There are two ways to add the eggs. The first way is to do it as written, and wait for chocolate mixture to cool prior to adding the eggs. The second way is if you don’t have time to let the mixture cool completely. Don’t add the eggs to the hot mixture. Let it cool for a couple of minutes, then whisk the eggs. Take 1/2 cup of the chocolate mixture and slowly add it to the eggs, whisking as you pour. Once the egg mixture is thoroughly combined, slowly add it to the chocolate mixture, whisking as you pour. This will keep your eggs from curdling.

Chocolate Cherry Muffins
Adapted from Gourmet Magazine

6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips, divided
1 cup whole milk
2 large eggs
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup dried sour cherries (4 oz)

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 400°F.

Heat butter and half of chocolate in milk in a 2-quart saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until just melted. Remove from heat. Cool 15 minutes. Add eggs and whisk until smooth.

Whisk together flour, cocoa, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl until combined well. Add chocolate mixture and stir until just combined. Stir in remaining chocolate and cherries.

Divide among 12 greased (1/2-cup) muffin cups. Bake until a tester comes out clean, 14 to 18 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 5 to 10 minutes.

These muffins are definitely a guilty pleasure and I like them very much. Comparing them to my all-time favorite banana muffin is a little difficult because these are a completely different animal. They are delicious, and would be a really fun treat to serve in the coming holiday season. Thumbs up!

Surprise, surprise — I actually made the deadline for the Monday Muffin segment. After a very long afternoon, I debated whether or not to slack off until about 9:00 last night, when I figured I should just get off my butt and whip up some muffins. They aren’t that time consuming, I was just feeling lazy and I knew no one would be surprised if suddenly they appeared on Tuesday.

But before we get into the Monday Muffin, a little housekeeping: Last week I posted a turkey burger for our Magazine of the Month, Bon Appetit. I must have been having some sort of brain fart because I made the post title “August” when it is, in fact, September and, though CC and I had a good discussion about his choice of magazine, for some reason I thought he wanted to do the August Bon Appetit. After I posted the burger (which was the August cover), he mentioned to me that he wanted to post some roast chicken thing, which was the cover. And that’s when I realized something was wrong because you really can’t have two covers. So, I changed the post title and the recipes link to the September edition of BA, but the burger is from the August edition. This month we’ll just make the MoM a Choose Your Own Bon Appetit Adventure. Go to page 23 to make a burger, go to page 47 to make a chicken, and then go to page 95 for Chef Ramsay to hit you over the head with a cold scallop and then you die.

And now, back to the Monday Muffin: Spiced Yogurt Muffins.

I was in the mood for something a little different so when I saw this on Food & Wine, I went for it. The spices in the muffin are distinctly a fall flavor and would be perfectly suited to serve for a breakfast on Thanksgiving morning. What surprised me was the texture of this muffin. Because it calls for 1 1/4 cups of lowfat yogurt, the insides are a bit creamy, almost like you’re eating a light pumpkin pie. If you like pumpkin pie and that texture, you’ll be pleased. I baked these with and without paper cups, and the muffins without the cups ended up with a goofy, gummy consistency around the base of the muffin. The muffins that baked in the paper were fine, so bake these in the paper cups. The recipe says it makes 18 muffins, but they come out rather small so just do yourself a favor and put them all into the single muffin tray and bake for a couple of minutes longer.

Spiced Yogurt Muffins
Courtesy of Food & Wine Magazine

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups plain low-fat yogurt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon granulated sugar

Preheat the oven to 375°. Line 18 muffin cups with paper or foil liners. Lightly spray the liners with vegetable oil spray.

In a food processor, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, allspice, cloves and 1/2 teaspoon of the nutmeg and pulse to blend; transfer to a large bowl. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, yogurt, butter, applesauce and vanilla. Fold the yogurt mixture into the dry ingredients until just blended.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle the granulated sugar and remaining 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg over the muffins. Bake for 18 minutes, until the muffins are springy; let cool in the pans for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned the possibility of doing a “Monday Muffin” segment with the caveat that my ability to keep to a regular blogging schedule is very poor. Case in point, I skipped out on the muffin entirely last week and now it’s Wednesday!

At least I went and made a “Muffins” category to support my nasty muffin habit.

So here’s the Monday muffin for this week. It comes to us from Joy of Baking, and I had really high hopes: Banana-Strawberry Muffins. I chose it because we’ve made strawberry muffins and banana muffins, and this combines the two into one. Can we go wrong with that?

We’re about to find out.

These little treats are a banana bread base with chopped strawberries spread throughout. To keep the strawberries from sinking, they are mixed into the flour before being added to the wet ingredients.

Beyond coating the strawberries in the flour mixture, the way to make these muffins are straightforward. Mix the wet ingredients, add the dry ingredients, bake.

Strawberry-Banana Muffins
Courtesy of Joy of Baking

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 cup)
1 cup fresh strawberries cut into bite sized pieces
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Position rack in center of oven. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with paper liners or grease with butter or a vegetable spray.
In a small saucepan melt the butter. Set aside. In a medium sized bowl whisk together the brown sugar, eggs, vanilla extract and mashed banana. Add the melted butter to the brown sugar mixture and stir to combine.

In another large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Gently fold in the berries, making sure they are coated with flour. This helps to prevent the berries from sinking during baking. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir only until the ingredients are just combined. Do not over mix the batter or tough muffins will result.

Divide the batter evenly among the 12 muffin cups, using two spoons or an ice cream scoop. Place in the oven and bake until a tester inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

These are okay. I probably won’t make them again. The banana flavor in these was a little muted — now that could be because my bananas weren’t totally brown so I didn’t get a lot of the syrup taste, but I’m pretty sure it’s just the muffin. The strawberry chunks, though nice, weren’t pronounced enough. There also just weren’t enough. To make sure you get a good spread of strawberries in this, I’d recommend upping the amount to 1 1/2 cups of chopped strawberries.

To be honest, the Smashed-Strawberry Muffins we made a couple of weeks ago were better and the Banana Nut Muffins before that are still the best we’ve made. These were nice, but that’s it. They didn’t give me the wow factor I was hoping for. Maybe if I had put a little sugary streusel on top they would have been saved, but there’s already enough going on in this muffin that I didn’t want to overload the flavors. This gets a solid C grade.

Welcome back from the weekend — it’s Muffin Monday! Okay, I just made that up. Over the weekends I’ve been making new muffins for the work week, so it just made sense to declare Mondays “Muffin Mondays”. I have no idea how long I’ll keep to it; my ability to stick to a blog schedule hasn’t been all that stellar. My biggest fear is that I’ll eventually run out of muffins to make. Eventually I’d have to get into the bizarre kinds and I’m not so sure if I want to do that. Sometimes I like playing it safe. Case in point: Strawberry Smashed Muffins.

I like muffins, not only because they’re delicious and are easy to eat, but because they’re really quick and simple to make. Throwing together a good, easy batter takes all of 15 minutes and everything can be quickly cleaned while the muffins bake.

A multitude of berries can be used for these muffins; I selected strawberries. Raspberries would also be delicious and appropriate for anyone who is leery of lots of sweetness. The sweetness isn’t overbearing; my fear was that it would come out rather syrupy (not my favorite) but they weren’t. The cinnamon-sugar topping is very over the top in the sweetness of these muffins, so if you’re not into that, consider doing the simple streusel from the blueberry muffins. Also, these aren’t as cakey as the banana muffins I was gushing about last week, but still fluffy enough to satisfy me. The batter held up quite nicely with the berries.

The original recipe calls for vegetable oil, but I substituted with natural, unsweetened applesauce and got great results. Another good switch up on these muffins would be to half the all-purpose flour and make up the difference with wheat flour. (And obviously if you’re that worried about being health-conscious, don’t dip these in melted butter and sugar… Duh!)

Strawberry Smashed Muffins with Cinnamon-Sugar Topping
Adapted from RecipeZaar / Gold Medal Rainbow Bakery children’s Cookbook

Muffins
1 2/3 cups fresh strawberries (or frozen, thawed and drained)
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup natural, unsweetened applesauce
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Cinnamon-Sugar Topping
4 tablespoons butter, melted and warm
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Heat oven to 425 F. Lightly grease the bottoms of 12 regular sized muffin cups.

Slightly smash strawberries in large bowl, using fork. Alternatively, quarter strawberries and pulse in a food processor with 7 one-second pulses. Remove from processor and place in large bowl.

Stir in sugar, applesauce and eggs until mixed. Stir in other ingredients just until moistened.

Using a 1/3 measuring cup, evenly distribute batter into muffin cups. Bake 15 to 18 minutes or until light golden brown or toothpick poked in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes. Loosen sides of muffins from pan and take them out of the pan. Let cool for another 5 minutes.

For topping, mix together sugar and cinnamon, until cinnamon is evenly distributed throughout the sugar. Dip muffin tops lightly in melted butter, then into sugar mixture.

These are a delicious and light and the smashed berries inside are a fun treat to bite into. Here’s a photo of the insides… I went to get the camera and our illustrious web admin decided to take one of the muffins for a test drive.

No, this is not a repeat from last week’s Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins. I had extra bananas in my pantry that were going brown and wanted to use them up. I did enjoy the muffins I made last week but I was searching for something different — a more scrumptious treat with a cake texture.

Found it.

These muffins are incredibly moist and soft with a sweet banana flavor, thanks to the fact that it calls for a whole 3 bananas — a great way to get rid of those brown things sitting on top of your fridge.

What falls down for me a bit is the streusel mixture that goes on top — comprising mostly of brown sugar and a little bit of butter, during the baking process it melts into the muffin and doesn’t retain its crumbly texture as well. I think the best bet is to use the streusel from the Blueberry Muffins, which is comprised of nearly equal parts sugar and flour. Add in 1/3 cup of nuts, and you’ll have the winning streusel topping.

These muffins are the easiest muffins yet. Dump your wet ingredients into a bowl, mix well with an electric mixer, add the dry ingredients, mix well with an electric mixer, divide into a greased, non-stick 12-cup muffin tin. Bake. Eat.

Streusel Topped Banana Muffins
Courtesy of MizzNezz / RecipeZaar

3 large ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Topping (as reflected in photos)
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon, to taste
1 tablespoon cold butter
1/4 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 375°.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine bananas, sugar, egg and butter. Add dry ingredients and mix well, scraping the bowl with spatula as needed.

Divide batter into a greased, non-stick 12-cup muffin pan. Combine streusel in bowl and divide evenly among the 12 muffin cups. Bake for 20 minutes. Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and serve.

I also want to give a special call out to MizzNezz, the RecipeZaar contributor who came up with these muffins. A few of her dishes are staples in my house, like her Chicken Tetrazzini.

I love banana chocolate chip muffins. Back in my early 20′s when I was managing a popular mall retail store, I made a point every day to head down to my favorite coffee shop and order a banana chocolate chip muffin to go with my coffee. Somehow it set the tempo for my day — sweet banana flavor in a cake format accompanied by a scattering of milk chocolate chips sent me into a sugar shock that took hours to come down from.

GoodmorninghowcanIhelpyou?

The flavor of these muffins is oh-so-good. My only real disappointment is in their appearance; I wish they had risen more like mushrooms, rather than the stunted boxed-corn-muffin look. Once you take a bite that disappointment abates because they’re just so darn scrumptious.

Banana-Chocolate Chip Muffins
Courtesy of Bon Appétit

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 large)
1 large egg
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup milk
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease twelve 1/3-cup muffin cups with butter flavored spray. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Mix mashed bananas, egg, melted butter and milk in medium bowl. Stir banana mixture into dry ingredients just until blended (do not overmix). Stir in chocolate chips.
Divide batter among prepared muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full. Bake muffins until tops are pale golden and tester inserted into center comes out with some melted chocolate attached but no crumbs, about 32 minutes. Transfer muffins to rack; cool.

I’m still on my muffin kick. This week, I explored Raspberry Almond Muffins. Rather than attempting to mix in actual (fragile) raspberries into an otherwise sturdy dough, this calls for a teaspoon of raspberry jam in the center of the batter.

Previously, I’ve had all kinds of problems baking with jam in the center of dough: the jam sinks to the bottom, explodes/oozes out of the top, seriously sucks and pisses me off, etc. Fortunately this batter is sturdy enough for the jam, which transfuses itself through the muffin nicely during the baking process. After half of the batter is placed in each muffin cup, a small well is made inside for the jam to go into. This is very important, as the jam will move around when you spread the rest of the batter on top. For example, a couple of my wells weren’t deep enough and the jam was spread to one side and baked on that side. The muffins don’t look any different, but it took me a few bites before I found the fun, jammy center.

I know. It’s rough.

After they came out of the oven, I jacked up the action by dipping the tops in melted butter, then a cinnamon sugar mixture.

Raspberry Almond Muffins with Cinnamon Sugar Topping
Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated

3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon table salt
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar, less 1 tablespoon
1 ounce almond paste, crumbled (3 tablespoons)
2 large eggs
1 1/3 cups plain low-fat yogurt
12 teaspoons raspberry jam
Vegetable cooking spray or additional unsalted butter for muffin tins

Cinnamon Sugar Topping
4 tablespoons butter, melted and warm
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon

Adjust oven rack to lower middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl; set aside.

Beat butter, sugar, and almond paste with electric mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in one-half of dry ingredients. Beat in one-third of yogurt. Beat in remaining dry ingredients in two batches, alternating with yogurt, until incorporated.

Spray twelve-cup muffin tin with vegetable cooking spray or coat lightly with butter. Spoon one-half portion of batter into each muffin cup. With small spoon, make well in center of each cup of dough. Spoon 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons raspberry (or any flavored) jam into each well. Fill with remaining batter. Bake until muffins are golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Set on wire rack to cool slightly, about 5 minutes. Remove muffins from tin.

For cinnamon sugar topping: Melt butter. Meanwhile, mix cinnamon and sugar for topping. Gently dip muffin tops into warm, melted butter, then into cinnamon sugar mixture. Serve warm.