Recipe: Donut Muffins

Friends, let me introduce you to the donut muffin. It is buttery and sweet. It is blatantly decadent. It is ridonculous.

I stumbled upon the donut muffin by way of another blog and posted them on this blog as part of a weekend entry. Like most of the baking recipes I post on this blog, they became a nagging fixation. "When are you going to make those donut muffins?" was a question I often asked myself. Well, it seems an overdue baby and a life of limited physical mobility as a result made the conditions just right last night, as I cranked 'em out while listening to/watching reruns of Ghost Hunters on SyFy (no judging).

The basic idea is this: Make a really good batch of from-scratch muffins. Dip said muffins in butter and roll in cinnamon sugar. Prepare your taste buds for ecstasy.


DONUT MUFFINS

For the muffins:
24 Tbs. (3 sticks) unsalted butter, warmed to room temperature
1-3/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 lb. 11 oz. (6 cups) all-purpose flour
1 Tbs. plus 2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1-3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1-2/3 cups milk
1/4 cup buttermilk

For dipping:
16 Tbs. (2 sticks) unsalted butter; more as needed
2 cups sugar
2 Tbs. ground cinnamon
To make the muffins

Put a rack in the middle of the oven and heat the oven to 350°F.

In a stand mixer or a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until just mixed in.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg. Combine the milk and buttermilk.

With a wooden spoon, mix a quarter of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Then mix in a third of the milk mixture. Continue mixing in the remaining dry and wet ingredients alternately, ending with the dry. Mix until well combined and smooth, but don't overmix.

Grease and flour a standard-size muffin tin. Scoop enough batter into each tin so that the top of the batter is even with the rim of the cup, about 1/2 cup. Bake the muffins until firm to the touch, 30 to 35 min.

Melt the butter for the dipping mixture. Combine the sugar and cinnamon. When the muffins are just cool enough to handle, remove them from the tin, dip them into or brush them all over with the melted butter, and then roll them in the cinnamon sugar.

Makes 24 muffins


And that's it, my friends. Ron ate his while saying things like "Oh my god" and "wow" and upon eating mine, I had to agree with his sentiments. Enjoy!