A muffin with a secret
The best muffins are the ones that veer into cupcake territory. Buttery, rich and occasionally glazed or iced, a muffin is intended to make eating cake acceptable for breakfast.
These crumb-cake muffins do just that.
With their sour-cream-laden batter, they’re about as tender and moist as cake gets.
And the nubby blanket of cinnamonscented crumbs on top is as sweet as icing, but crunchier, and easier to eat out of hand in the morning while the caffeine kicks in.
To get that cake-like texture, the batter does require an electric mixer, either hand-held or stand. Here, I use it for the reverse-creaming method, which calls for mixing the dry ingredients first, then beating in the butter before finally adding the eggs and sour cream. I find that I get a slightly lighter, finer cake that way (as opposed to the more traditional technique of creaming the butter and sugar first).
The butter does need to be well-softened for the reverse-creaming method to work, so plan ahead, or be prepared to zap the butter briefly in the microwave on 50% power before you start mixing. It should be soft enough to spread easily on toast.
Then, to bump up the flavor, I mixed in a hefty dose of vanilla and a small amount of almond extract and lemon zest, just enough to brighten things without being obviously citrusy or almondy.
Next, I focused on adding more oomph to the crumbs. Instead of just melting the butter, I let it bubble and hiss until the milky foam sank to the bottom of the pot and turned as brown as a pecan. That gave the butter a deep, caramelized flavor that made the crumbs arguably the best part — and extremely tempting to nibble off the tops of all the muffins as soon as they’re cool enough to pick at.
Because I know that temptation exceedingly well, I build in a safeguard. Hidden underneath the batter is a second layer of crumbs.
So, even if, say, a few crumbs disappear off the tops as you’re moving them from the pans to serving platter, your muffin recipients will not suffer their lack.
Plus, that underlying layer of crumbs fixes the problem of gobbling the tops and leaving the bottoms. With this recipe, not a crumb will remain.
Cinnamon Crumb Cake Muffins
Yield: 12 muffins
Total time: 1 hour
Ingredients for topping
■ K cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
■ 1L cups all-purpose flour
■ K cup dark brown sugar, packed
■ 1K teaspoons ground cinnamon
■ N teaspoon ground allspice or cardamom
■ N teaspoon fine sea salt
Ingredients for batter
■ O cup sour cream
■ 2 large eggs
■ 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
■ N teaspoon almond extract
■ K teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
■ 1 K cups all-purpose flour
■ M cup sugar
■ O teaspoon baking soda
■ O teaspoon baking powder
■ K teaspoon fine sea salt
■ K cup unsalted butter (1 stick), cut into 1-inch slices and softened
Directions
1. Heat oven to 375 degrees and line a 12-cup muffin tin with liners.
2. Make the topping: In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, melt butter, then let it simmer until the foam on top falls to the bottom of the pot and turns brown, 4 to 6 minutes. It will smell nutty when it’s ready. Immediately pour butter into a small bowl to keep it from getting any browner, and let cool for 5 minutes.
3. Whisk together flour, sugar, spices and salt in a medium bowl. Pour in the brown butter and stir, pinching the mixture together, until crumbs form. Set aside.
4. Make the batter: Whisk together sour cream, eggs, vanilla, almond extract and lemon zest in a mixing bowl.
5. In a large bowl, using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or a hand-held electric mixer, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt until combined, about 10 seconds. Add softened butter and beat for 20 seconds to work it into the flour. Add egg mixture and continue beating until the batter is very smooth, about 1 minute.
6. Sprinkle a scant tablespoon of the topping crumbs into the bottom of each muffin liner. Spoon the batter on top of the crumbs, dividing it evenly.
7. Bake muffins for 5 minutes to firm up the tops so the crumbs don’t sink into the batter. Remove muffin pan from the oven and lower heat to 350 degrees. Sprinkle the remaining crumbs on top of each muffin. Continue to bake until the muffins are springy to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes longer. Cool on a rack for 15 minutes. Use an offset spatula or butter knife to lift the muffins out of the pan. Finish cooling muffins on a rack.