With Thanksgiving behind us, we’re officially into Holiday Season, which is obvious because every television commercial features Santa and the décor at my local CVS became a blur of red overnight. There are also Christmas trees lining every street corner and my inbox is filled with frantic subject lines urging me to use my 25% percent off codes before they expire. It’s frankly all a bit overwhelming. But luckily, it’s also Baking Season, which is my favorite time of year.

Baking Season means that your kitchen (i.e., whole apartment) smells like cinnamon and nutmeg, and the oven heat adds a cozy element to the dry heat coming out of your clanking radiator. There’s also nothing quite like the relief that baking for no particular reason provides. Whereas Thanksgiving and Christmas require the frantic baking of previously specified pies, often at late hours after standing on your feet in a kitchen all day, the broader Baking Season allows you to mix together whatever you want and pop it in the oven anytime you want.

Take, for example, muffins. They’re nothing if not pure, indulgent comfort. No one NEEDS to eat a muffin. In fact, I’ve actually struggled to figure out how to incorporate a muffin into my daily life. I already have my breakfast routine down (oatmeal or yogurt at home, or a banana with peanut butter at work if I’m running late) and unfortunately I am not the kind of person who takes afternoon tea, or really any tea at all. In my imagination, muffins are something you bake and then put into a basket and serve hot from the oven to guests in your Hamptons home. I don’t have a Hamptons home or daytime guests, but I do have…a basket?

But maybe baking muffins is all the more satisfying and fun exactly because they’re so useless to me. The ultimate indulgence. I mean, obviously I eat all of them, usually reheated in the oven and with a pat of butter. And I enjoy them immensely. They make me feel like “the kind of person who has muffins on hand,” and while I don’t know exactly what kind of person that is, I do know it’s one I’d definitely like to be.

If you also want to be that person, these muffins are for you. Faintly spiced with seasonally appropriate allspice and nutmeg, they’re made with pantry ingredients, and are something you could throw together in YOUR Hamptons home for guests in under 20 minutes. As Ina Garten would say, how easy is that?

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Allspice Crumb Muffins

Category: Desserts

Servings: Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients

    For the Streusel:
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup light brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into bits
    For the Muffins:
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup light brown sugar
  • 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
  • 2 large eggs
  • 3/4 cup whole milk
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

  1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat oven to 375°F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or line with paper cups. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.
  2. To make the streusel, put the flour, brown sugar, and allspice in a small bowl and whisk to combine. Add the bits of cold butter and toss, pinching the mixture between your fingers, until you have pea-sized crumbs. Set aside in the refrigerator. (The streusel can be made up to 3 days ahead and stored, covered, in the refrigerator.)
  3. To make the muffins, in a large bowl whisk together the flour, granulated sugar, allspice, baking powder, and salt. Stir in the brown sugar, making certain there are no lumps. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk together the melted butter, eggs, milk and vanilla extract until well combined. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. The batter will be lumpy; that is how it should be.
  4. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Sprinkle streusel over each muffin, then use your fingertips to gently press the crumbs into the batter.
  5. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin. Cool completely on the wire rack. Muffins can be stored, in an airtight container, at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Notes

https://www.thekitchenchronicles.com/2018/11/27/allspice-crumb-muffins/