Cinnamon Donut Muffins

Who can’t make a recipe that they stumble across called “Dirt Bombs”?

You know by now that I rip recipes out of magazines like there’s no tomorrow (until The Husband gently asks if I need to move any of the ragged pages from the kitchen counter over to my recipe binder, because they really do start to pile up… but a move to the black recipe binder also sort of means that they’ll probably not be made within the next 18 months, whereas at least if a recipe is waiting for me on the kitchen counter, it might get made before the next season, or so).
So when I came across this Dirt Bomb muffin, that was coated in butter and cinnamon and sugar, there was no denying these had to be made. There was no shuffling of this recipe over to the black (hole) binder. Nope, these got made, kind of sort of pronto. They smell like cake donuts. They taste like cake donuts. Therefore, they are excellent.

Adapted from Bon Appetit’s recipe…

MUFFINS:

2¼ cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

¾ cup sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup whole milk

TOPPING:

½ cup sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

6 tablespoons (¾ stick) butter, melted
1. Preheat oven to 375°. Grease a 12-cup muffin pan OR a 24-cup mini muffin pan with nonstick spray.
2. In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg together; set aside.
3. In a separate large bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy (3 – 5 minutes). Beat in egg and vanilla. With mixer on low speed, add dry ingredients in 3 additions alternating with milk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with dry ingredients.
4. Scoop batter equally into muffin cups and bake, rotating pan halfway through, until a tester inserted into center comes out clean; 30–35 minutes for a 12-cup pan and 15 – 16 minutes for a mini-muffin pan. Allow to cool 5 minutes in pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
5. TOPPING AND ASSEMBLY: In a small bowl, melt butter. In a medium bowl, mix sugar and cinnamon together. Working with one muffin at a time, dip tops of muffins in melted butter, then cinnamon sugar to coat.
Tips:
- Fresh nutmeg is the way to go. Buy them in bulk (the little nutmeg balls) and grate them on the prickly edge of your cheese grater thing.
- You can use a different kind of milk (like 2% or skim or almond) but know that the texture won’t be as rich and yummy.
- The cinnamon… I love the stuff. I use Vietnamese cinnamon, which is stronger and spicier, so I think you should try it too.
- These freeze really well, assuming you wrap them tightly.
- Enjoy!
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September 3rd, 2014 | More Sweets Please | 6 Comments | Tags: Breads & Muffins, Cinnamon

6 Responses and Counting...

Alicia 09.03.2014

Oh. My. Goodness…..these were incredible!
Thank you for sharing your recipe.
More Sweets Please

Yay! This makes me so happy to hear. Thanks Alicia…
Sue

These are really excellent but they baked much faster.
More Sweets Please

Good to know, Sue- I’ll take a second look!
Avianti Jewelry

I looked at the title and thought ‘this looks way too difficult but I should try it’. Then I saw the list of the ingredients and directions, and thought ‘wow, this is what happiness is’. Thank you so much for sharing!
More Sweets Please

So glad you like. And I agree… easy = great. :)