Sour Cream Coffee Cake Muffins

Streusel:
1 cup packed dark-brown sugar
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 stick butter, chilled and cut in pieces

Muffin Batter:
1 stick softened butter
1 3/4 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup sour cream
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs

Mix together the topping ingredients with a pastry blender or your fingers. Keep it in the fridge till you are ready to use it. Butter and flour a jumbo 12 cup muffin tin and preheat the oven to 350. Mix together the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Beat together the softened butter, sour cream, sugar and vanilla till light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Mix in the flour mixture till combined. Fill the muffin tins halfway with batter, then top them with half the streusel. Fill them in the rest of the way and top with the rest of the streusel. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, till a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the pan for a few minutes then cool the rest of the way on a cooling rack.

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I got this recipe from a cooking show, but I don't remember which one. The only change I made was I doubled the cinnamon since I love cinnamon in streusel. Other than that, this is what I got from them. These muffins turn out wicked tender and moist, they are really good. You could probably make a straight up coffee cake with the recipe, but I haven't tried. I can't imagine why it wouldn't work though. You are supposed to use the big muffin sized tin, but I couldn't find mine so I used a cupcake one. I just cut the cooking time by about ten minutes and it came out great.

First off prep the streusel. Put the brown sugar, cinnamon, one cup of flour, salt and chilled butter in a medium bowl. Either cut it in with a pasty blender or do it by hand, like I did. If you want to do it by hand toss it around to coat all the butter with the dry mix. Then grab some butter and squeeze. Repeat till it is a coarse crumb texture. Now toss it in the fridge so it doesn't melt while you are making the batter. Which is the next thing we do. Whisk together the flour, baking soda and baking powder, then set it aside. Mix together the softened butter, sugar, sour cream and vanilla. You should really use an electric mixer, but I didn't feel like breaking mine out. The muffins still came out wicked good. Mix it till it is light and fluffy. Then mix in the eggs, one at a time (or if you are using a half recipe, like me, just the one) and mix till combined. Now add the flour. If you are taking pictures, make sure to forget to get one of this step. I added the flour mix, you are just going to have to trust me. Heh. But here is the final batter. I'm using liners in my muffin tin, because I found some in the back of my cabinet. You can use these too, otherwise you want the tin buttered and floured. Fill the tin up halfway, add half the streusel, the rest of the batter, then the rest of the streusel. Yeah, multiple layers of struesel. It's what makes these muffins so good. Well, that and sour cream. I love sour cream coffee cake. It is so moist and delicious. So bake these in a 350 degree for 25-30 minutes (or less, if you are doing small ones like me) so you too can share in the goodness. A toothpick should come out clean when they are done. Then they are done, cool them in the pan for a couple minutes, then move them to a rack to finish. No, there isn't one missing. You must have miscounted. I don't have to sit here and listen to these accusations that I ate a hot, delicious, fresh from the oven coffee cake muffin. Maybe I'll just go eat another. So there.