'Snicker'doodle Muffins

Go ahead and say it, ‘they’re ugly’. BUT who cares? As long as they taste good right? I WAS going to make something else one Saturday, but we had just gotten back from Bandung. I asked if I could make something for breakfast. My mom said sure. I looked up breakfast items on allrecipes, my own blog, and another blog. And I found some cinnamon roll muffins. Sounded pretty simple. I got up the next morning and discovered there was no powdered sugar. I got on the same blog and found this recipe and, GOSH was it GOOD!! I want one right now. Everyone loved them, but, as I have said before, they have lots of sugar SO who wouldn’t like them? I don’t know. I got them from here, http://sweetpeaskitchen.com/2012/02/snickerdoodle-muffins/. And here is what I did.

        Muffins

2¼ cups all-purpose flour

3¾ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup (1 block) butter, softened (I used salted)

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup sour cream

¼ cup buttermilk

       Topping

¾ cup white sugar

2½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

·         Preheat the oven to 190C (350F). Line muffin cups with muffin liners. (Do not use cooking spray.)

·         In a large bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cream of tartar, nutmeg, and salt; set aside.

·         In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla extract. Beat in half of the dry ingredients. Beat in the sour cream and buttermilk. Beat in remaining dry ingredients until just incorporated (batter will be soft).

·         To make the topping, in a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon.

·         Using a muffin scooper or ice cream scooper, drop the scoop of batter into the bowl with the sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle the dough with the mixture and roll it around until it is covered completely in cinnamon sugar. Place the ball into the muffin liner. Repeat with remaining batter. Sprinkle the leftover cinnamon sugar onto the tops the muffins.

·         Bake until muffin tops are golden brown, 18 to 22 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. Set on wire rack to cool slightly, about 5 minutes. 

Pumpkin Muffins with Cream Cheese Filling

These are very good, BUT…. You know? There’s always that big ‘BUT” after you say, ‘Yum’ these are good’. This big ‘BUT’ is you can’t taste the cream cheese filling very well. I ate these and said, ‘YUM, these are so GOOD!’. BUT my mom said, ‘They don’t taste very much like cream cheese.’ I realize I went through all that work making the cream cheese filling and then half to put it in the muffins and you can’t even taste it!! Anywho, I got this from Buns In My Oven (or my mom got them and told me to make them), http://www.bunsinmyoven.com/2012/09/23/pumpkin-muffins-with-cream-cheese-filling/.    And here is what I did.

      Pumpkin Muffins

¼ cup butter, softened

½ cup sugar

¼ cup red sugar

2/3 cup fresh pumpkin, glop (puree)

½ cup milk

2 eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ginger

1/8 teaspoon cloves

¼ teaspoon salt

        Cream Cheese Filling

4oz cream cheese, softened

2 Tablespoons white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

·         Pre-heat oven to 190C (350F).

·         Cream together butter and sugars until creamy.

·         Beat in pumpkin, buttermilk, and eggs.

·         Combine the dry ingredients in a small bowl and mix into the batter. Stir just until combined. Set aside.

·         Combine the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla and mix until smooth and creamy.

·         Grease or line a muffin tin with papers and drop one to two tablespoons of the batter into each muffin cup.

·         Drop one teaspoon of the filling in each muffin cup.

·         Add one more tablespoon of batter to each muffin cup to cover the filling.

·         Bake for 24-27 minutes or until baked through. Cool for 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.