Coffee Cake Muffins

I love coffee cake.  My father used to love Freihofer's coffee cake.  I remember sitting at the breakfasat table with him.  He'd have his cup of Maxwell House instant coffee and a slice of coffee cake with a little butter smeared on the side while he read the morning paper.  To this day, I love a little bit of butter on my coffee cake, too.

I rarely buy a coffee cake, and I don't bake them too often, either.  I seem to bake such things in smaller packages, like muffins and scones.  If you are trying to decide between baking a coffee cake or muffins, here's a recipe where you get all the flavor of a larger coffee cake in an individual serving. They're easy to bake, easy to pack up, and freeze beautifully. 

Coffee Cake Muffins

COFFEE CAKE MUFFINS
Oven - 375 degrees F
Makes 12+ standard-sized muffins

4 tablespoons softened butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup (1/2 pt.) sour cream
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix together and set aside:
1 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Confectioners sugar for dusting tops

Line standard muffin tins with cupcake liners, or spray with baking spray. 

Beat butter and sugar together well.  Add vanilla extract and eggs.  Beat well.  Add sour cream and combine thoroughly.  Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together and add all at once to butter mixture.  Mix very well  until all the dry ingredients are incorporated. 

Fill each muffin cup with 1 heaping tablespoon of batter.  With the bottom of a floured spoon (spray with cooking spray and coat with flour) smooth the surface of the batter.  Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of brown sugar mixture, add another heaping tablespoon of batter and sprinkle the top with another teaspoon of the brown sugar mixture. 

You may have extra batter.  Don't make muffins larger - bake another muffin or two in a separate muffin tin.

Bake at 375 degrees F for 20 minutes.  If the muffins are still moist in the center, give them another minute.  Muffins are done when the centers are dry and the middle of the muffin bounces back to the touch.

Dust tops with confectioners sugar (I use a tea strainer and shake the sugar over top).

Cool for 20 minutes and remove muffins from tin to finish cooling on a rack.

If the edges of the muffins stick to the pan, run a paring knife under the edges before removing from pan.  If you don't use liners and they stick, I use a grapefruit knife to get in and under the muffins and gently urge them out of the pan. 

If you decide to have some and freeze the rest, here's a good way to freeze them:  place muffins on a cookie sheet and freeze for a few hours.  Place frozen muffins in a zip top freezer bag, and freeze until you're ready to use them.  Take them out the night before and place on a plate or rack and let them thaw overnight.  They're just like freshly-baked muffins in the morning.