The Head of the Charles was this past weekend, which meant it was the 2nd Annual Head of the Charles Breakfast Party at my brother and fiancee's place, which meant I had to bake a fall breakfast food. What better recipe to try than pumpkin muffins with a little twist?
Something monumental happened with this baking experience: I actually had every ingredient in my apartment and didn't need to grocery shop, so I literally was able to just whip them up! Usually I have everything on hand to make something easy like banana bread or chocolate chip cookies, but the fact that I had everything for a kind of random recipe really made me feel like a true baker.
Pumpkin Cinnamon Streusel Muffins
Recipe from Two Peas & Their Pod
MAKES 14 MUFFINS
Ingredients:
MUFFINS
1¾ cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ tablespoon cinnamon
1½ teaspoons nutmeg
1½ cups sugar
½ cup canola oil
1/3 cup water
1 cup canned pumpkin
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
BROWN SUGAR CINNAMON FILLING
1 cup brown sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
STREUSEL TOPPING
1¼ cup oats
1 tablespoon flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Dash of nutmeg
6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into chunks
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 14 muffin tins.
Use a hand mixer to combine the pumpkin, eggs, oil, water and vanilla. Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix until combined.
In a separate, small bowl mix the brown sugar and cinnamon with a spoon to make the filling.
In another bowl, mix the streusel ingredients - all but the butter. Then, add the butter and mix it in using your hands, kneading it until it becomes a crumbly topping.
Once all the ingredients are ready, fill each muffin cup halfway. Add a layer of the brown sugar cinnamon mixture to each halfway filled cup so they will have a thin cinnamon strip in the middle.
Then, top them off with the rest of the batter. Sprinkle the tops with the streusel. You'll probably use more streusel per muffin than you expect!
Bake for about 20 minutes until the streusel topping is golden and the muffins are cooked through.
I made these on a Thursday and they were still moist and delicious for the party on Saturday morning. They were a huge hit and were quick and easy! I'll definitely be adding these to my pumpkin baking repertoire.