Puffin Muffins

Have you ever been to The Bread Basket and tried one of their Puffin Muffins? They are one of the best things in this world. It's a cross between a muffin and a doughnut with lots of sugary goodness in between. I discovered how delicious these things were a couple of weeks ago. At a $1.59 a pop, I cannot make the trip too often, so I thought I'd try to make some myself. I googled the recipe, and I found two. Here and here.They were both very similar, the only differences were the amounts of spices and sugar. Below is what I did, and let me tell you, they were DELICIOUS, but not nutritious, so I paired the muffins with fresh fruit. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/3 cup butter

3/4 cup white sugar

1/2 cup milk (plus a tablespoon or two more)

For dipping:

1/4 cup butter

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 cup white sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. In one bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. In another bowl, beat egg, butter, vanilla and sugar until well blended. Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and beat in milk until smooth. Fill each cup of lightly greased muffin tin 2/3 full. Bake 20 minutes (11-12 for mini muffins), or until a light golden color, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool 1-2 minutes and remove from pan.

For dipping:

Melt butter. In separate bowl, combine 1/2 cup sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.

While puffins are still warm, dip each one in butter, then in sugar mixture, coating thoroughly. Serve warm, or allow to cool and store in an airtight container or ziploc bag.

Alteration: I made these as mini muffins this weekend and they were even better! The cinnamon and sugar topping was in perfect proportion to the bread part of the muffin. I baked them for 11-12 minutes instead of the full 20 minutes in the mini muffin tin. YUM!