A Cold Day Just Begs Fresh Muffins

We have a had such a mild winter here in North Carolina (so far) but a couple of weeks ago, it was a rather cold and windy day.  All I wanted was to come home to a hot cup of cocoa and a fresh baked muffin.  So as soon as the preschool day was over, I got to it.

Took the out the necessary equipment:

Got my recipe from Pinterest:  French Toast Breakfast Muffins and 35 or so minutes later,

Viola!

I had some fresh baked muffins and my hot cocoa.  Yum!

Light and airy muffins that are dipped in melted butter and rolled in a cinnamon sugar mixture.  Not too sweet with just barely a hint of nutmeg.  I might increase the nutmeg a touch more but if you're not a huge fan of the spice, the amount will be just right. 

I will definitely make these again!  The recipe makes enough batter for 8 regular size muffins.   May try these as mini muffins for a bite size treat next time. 

French Toast Breakfast Muffins

1/3 c. butter, melted
1/2 c. sugar
1 egg  (room temperature), lightly beaten
1 1/2 c. all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 c. milk

Topping

1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter, melted
1 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a medium-large bowl, sift together all dry ingredients.  Add wet ingredients and stir just until combined.  Don't overmix. Scoop batter into muffin pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray. I used a large ice-cream scoop and got 8 medium-large muffins out of this batter.   Bake for 20-23 minutes, or until they just start to turn a bit golden at the edges.  If you will be making mini-muffins, bake for 10-12 minutes. 

For the topping, mix sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Place melted butter in another small bowl. Dip the warm muffins in melted butter (just the tops or the whole thing--your preference!) and then roll in the cinnamon sugar mixture.  Makes 8 muffins

**I cut the topping recipe in half and found that it was plenty for the 8 muffins

Enjoy!

Eggnog Cranberry Muffins

Do you ever find yourself buying an ingredient to tryout and only find that you end up throwing it away because it expired since you forgot about it?  This is the case with eggnog.  Two years in a row, I have bought a small carton of it intending to use it for a couple of recipes (both baked goods) and both times I forgot it was in the back of the fridge and ended up throwing it away (mainly because come January 2nd, all baked goodies are off limits in an attempt to undue the holiday indulgence in sweets and all that is unhealthy).   So once again, I bought a carton this season.  But this time, I got around to using it (and before Jan 2nd).  Guess third time is the charm! 

Eggnog Cranberry Muffins

Quick to put together but having to take out the big ole food processor to chop the cranberries was a little more work than I wanted in a muffin recipe (perhaps I need to invest in a mini chopper?).  They came out fairly tasty.  Would have liked them to be a bit more moist though.  Not sure if a little bit more butter or perhaps a good size dollop of sourcream would help in that department.  I would definitely keep this recipe and maybe tweak it a bit more.

Recipe is from Annie's Eats and Recipe Girl

If you've got a little eggnog you need to use up and want to give this a whirl, click on either link above for the recipe.  Changes I made:  I increased the eggnog to 1 cup, used vanilla extract instead of almond and added 1/2 cup more cranberries.

I've got a little more eggnog left myself.  May try this recipe next, Eggnog Pound Cake

 (although that would be breaking my no more sweets after Jan 2nd rule).  Decisions, decisions.

Have a great day!

EDITED TO ADD:  Just linked this up to Sweets For A Saturday.  Thanks for the invite Lisa!