Normal evening coffee or tea is usually with cookies or by itself. When ordering coffee outside in a coffee shop, I just cannot resist buying the huge muffins that I see in the shop. As much as I hold myself back, I am even more tempted to eat them. I love how the muffins taste at the coffee shops and I have never been able to make them like that before. My muffins are usually cake like (which I d not mind), but it lacks the crumb texture that the store ones have.
When I bought this Cook’s Illustrated Baking Book back from the library, the first recipe my eyes went to were these bakery style muffins. I am usually skeptical about trying out a recipe from the book when they don’t have a picture. But this recipe just felt right and I wanted to try it out. I am so glad, I did! This recipe has the exact texture that I had been looking for all these years. This is going to be my base recipe for any muffins I make from now on.
I usually try to bake egg less, but this recipe has one egg in it. I would highly suggest that you do not skip it as I think the combination of the egg and the yogurt gives it the perfect texture. I simply loved the huge dome this muffin yielded. I would also suggest using liners as my muffins were stuck to the tins and when I tried to force it out, the gorgeous dome came out separately. It was alright as I had made it for home, but next time I would use the liners anyways to help remove it easily.
I used cinnamon sugar to coat the muffins, but they tasted awesome just plain. Also you could add any kind of berries or nuts in the batter to make a variation. My next try is going to be blueberry muffins that I love to eat at Starbucks!
Preparation time – 10 minutes
Cooking time – about 25 minutes
Difficulty level – easy
Ingredients to make Cinnamon Sugar Coated Muffins – Makes 16 mini muffins or 8 large ones
To make the muffins –
- All purpose flour – 1 ½ cups
- Baking powder – ½ tbsp
- Baking soda – ¼ tsp
- Salt – ¼ tsp
- Unsalted butter (softened) – 5 tbsp
- Sugar – 1 cup (I used little less than a cup as I used cinnamon sugar to coat)
- Egg – 1 large
- Plain yogurt – ¾ cup (I used low fat)
To make the cinnamon sugar –
- Butter – 2 tbsp
- Sugar – ¼ cup
- Cinnamon powder – 1 tsp
Procedure to make Cinnamon Sugar Coated Muffins –
- Preheat the oven to 375 F.
- Mix the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl and keep aside.
- Spray the muffin tins with vegetable oil spray and keep it ready. I did not use any muffin liners since I made it for home. If I was sending it to school or taking it for somebody, I would use a liner.
- Bring the egg to the room temperature and also the butter to get it softened.
- I used my stand mixer to make the muffins. Using the paddle attachment of the mixer beat the sugar and the butter in medium high speed until pale and fluffy. If not, use a hand-mixer and beat the mixture.
- Add the egg and beat well until combined. Make sure you scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Reduce the speed of the mixer and add the flour and the yogurt alternating between each addition. Mix them till they are combined and then turn off the mixer. Scrape down the sides and mix once with a spatula.
- Using a large spoon, carefully ladle the batter into the muffin tins.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 20 – 25 minutes until the muffins are golden brown. Check for doneness using a toothpick.
- Cool the muffins in the tin for 5 minutes and then cool them on a rack.
To Cinnamon sugar coat the Muffins –
- Mix the cinnamon and the sugar in a wide bowl.
- Melt the butter and when the muffins are still a little warm, brush them with melted butter and then dip it into the cinnamon sugar mixture. Shake off the excess and then serve!
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