The blueberry coffee cake muffins you need for those early mornings...
When Chase told me he had a 4AM crew-up time the next morning, I knew I wanted to make something he could take with him. Chase has never been a big breakfast eater (very opposite of myself who eats within 2 minutes of waking up) so I usually have to force feed him something sweet (and/or a breakfast burrito) to get him to eat before noon. I've always found he'll eat more if whatever I make is handheld and he can eat while working- hence the muffins. Coffee flows freely on the tugs so these are a perfect compliment to a morning cup o' joe. This is a classic coffee cake recipe with a few special ingredients that you need for those early mornings... especially if you aren't an early bird...
I made these muffins the night before and let them cool over night. They are best served warm, but travel best while cool; so don't forget to warm them up before serving! This recipe makes 12 muffins.
Ingredients
Muffins:
6 Tablespoons of Butter, at room temperature
1/3 Cup Vegetable Oil
1/2 Cup Dark White Sugar
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
Lemon Zest, optional
1 Cup Sour Cream
2 1/4 Cups All-Purpose Flour
2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
Pinch of Salt
1 Cup of Blueberries
Streusel:
1/2 Cup All-Purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Dark Brown Sugar
5 Tablespoons Butter, at room temperature
1 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
Pinch of Nutmeg
Equipment
(because I hate going looking for that teaspoon in the middle of a recipe with flour hands. And by "me", I mean Chase because I tend to sprinkle flour all over the kitchen while cooking... oops)
1 Large Mixing Bowl
Electric Mixer
Sifter (or another bowl to mix dry ingredients; see my rant below on this topic...)
1 Teaspoon
1/2 Teaspoon
1 Cup Measuring Cup
1/4 Cup Measuring Cup
1/2 Cup Measuring Cup
1/3 Cup Measuring Cup
Directions
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease your muffin tins. I grease mine with butter or shortening and then sprinkle with flour because I'm a member of the "less is more, unless it's butter and then more is better" club. You can also use baking spray or liners (which probably would have been smarter because I knew these muffins would be traveling... but butter...).
2. Combine softened butter, oil, and sugar in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer until evenly incorporated. Most coffee cake recipes call for white sugar but I love the molasses flavor of brown sugar so I almost always substitute it in recipes, but you can use 1 Cup of only white sugar if that's your thing.
3. Add eggs, one at a time, beating in between until the mixture is smooth. Add in vanilla and lemon zest. I used the zest of an entire medium lemon, but this really has to do with your preference. If you don't like lemon, add less or nix it all together; but I think the lemon adds a nice acidity to all the sweetness. Add the sour cream and combine gently until just incorporated.
4. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and slowly add to wet mixture until combined. Let me take a minute here to discuss my love of my sifter. I baked for a long time without one, but I picked up a cheap one for a specific recipe and never looked back. I have a sifter that holds three cups and has a measuring grid on the side. I love this because I add all of the dry ingredients to the sifter instead of a separate bowl. (This relieves the need to use a second bowl to combine dry ingredients which EVERY BAKING RECIPE will tell you to do but I could never quite bring myself to do. Something about that ONE extra bowl really makes doing the sink full of dishes insurmountable. I know, dramatic.) Most importantly, the texture of your baked goods really improves because all of the lumpy flour is gone.
5. Gently add in blueberries. I said one cup in the recipe, but that's a lie. I definitely added more. 1 cup is a good amount if you're not blueberry crazy.
6. Make the streusel. Combine all of the streusel ingredients with your hands until it mimics sand. I like to do this when the butter is room temperature but closer to cold rather than warm. Add the nutmeg, but don't go crazy. Just. A. Pinch. Nutmeg is potent but it's one of those things that separate good baked goods from the best baked goods.
7. Divide the batter in half between the muffin cups. Top with half of the streusel mixture. Then top with the rest of the batter and finally finish with the remaining streusel.
8. Bake muffins for approximately 25 minutes, until you insert a toothpick and it comes out clean. Let the muffins rest in pan for at least 5 minutes before putting on a cooling rack. Try not to eat all before you share. If you don't eat these immediately, heat the muffins up in the microwave for a couple of seconds before serving.