If there’s one thing I wish I baked more often, it’s muffins. How much nicer is it to have a homemade muffin for breakfast instead of the usual breakfast fare? I am not known for being a morning person, which most likely explains the few and far between muffin recipes on BoB.
These muffins may have the lightest and most delicate texture of any muffin I’ve ever made. They have a cake-like consistency that is so much nicer than most muffins or coffee cakes. Muffins can tend to be dry and generally unappealing once you get past the wrapper. These little gems, however, are not in the least bit dry. They are light and moist and just plain delicious.
I sent a dozen or so of these muffins to Quinn’s co-workers, and they didn’t last long. Someone sent word that these are everything a muffin should be. I couldn’t agree more.
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 cup finely chopped pecans
- 1 & 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Instructions
To make the muffins:
Preheat oven to 350°. Line standard-sized muffin tins with 24 paper liners.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.
Using an electric mixer, beat butter at medium speed until creamy. Gradually add sugar and mix well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition. Add sour cream and vanilla. Beat until blended.
Gradually add flour mixture. Mix until just blended. The batter will be thick.
Spoon muffin batter into cups, filling about 2/3-full.
To make the topping:
Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl. Sprinkle over muffin batter in muffin tins.
Bake muffins for 25-30 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Remove from pans and cool completely on wire racks.
Notes
Recipe adapted from an unlabeled clipping buried deep in my “to-bake” stack.
December 21st, 2011 at 6:07 am
These are just terrific. Moist and delicious. Everyone loved them, from my girl friends to my 7-year old daughter. Her only comment was that she wasn’t crazy about the nut topping. Well, it would be easy to do a crumble topping that wasn’t nuts. Thank you!
January 10th, 2012 at 11:58 am
Excellent post. I was checking continuously this blog and I’m impressed!
December 8th, 2012 at 4:58 am
These were ridiculously tasty!
I was a bit dubious as in your photos they seemed to be sagging in the middle, so I wasn’t entirely sure. Decided to make them anyway because of three reasons – not a single recipe I’ve tried from here has ever failed, I love sour cream more than anyone really should, liked how they looked on the inside.
I may have added a couple more tablespoons of flour, as my batter seemed a tad too liquid, but that’s not unusual. I also realised at 11PM that I had no baking soda and no muffin cases, so I just added half a teaspoon extra baking powder and improvised the cases out of regular baking paper. I didn’t get 24 muffins, but 14 well-sized ones. And the topping is perfect, just that little crunch the muffins needed.
And they are brilliant. Moist, even after a night outside in the kitchen with no cover over them, the topping is crunchy and nice, they look beautiful and didn’t sag at all and are an instant favourite! Plus, they taste like they won’t mind other additions for different flavours.
March 31st, 2013 at 8:35 am
Just tried them using the recipe verbatim, and that was a bad idea. They are running over the whole pan, liquid and awful-looking. So the extra half-cup of flour is necessary, for sure – this is the only thing I did different from other times.
March 31st, 2013 at 11:45 am
Sorry for your troubles, Chai. I’ve made these multiple times with no problems. Even with following a recipe exactly, there can sometimes be differences in equipment and ingredients that can alter the outcome.