If you remember, I tried to incorporate Eggnog into my muffins a few months ago, and while the end result was delicious, the Eggnog flavour was disappointingly absent, the flavour having baked out in the end. It’s for this reason that I was admittedly a little skeptical of this recipe.Since I was leaving town for Christmas and wouldn’t have much time in the kitchen while away, I decided to make three batches of these muffins for my new co-workers (which actually resulted in about 45 muffins), on one of my last days of work before the holidays. Wonderfully, from time to time, I’m allowed to use the giant kitchen I work in for such purposes (for baking for colleagues, that is, not necessarily for Muffin Monday. The timing just worked out to combine the two projects!)
I am very happy to report that whatever magic/chemical reaction the people at King Arthur Flour devised (which I strongly suspect is just the extra helping of nutmeg), the Eggnog flavour carried through into the final, baked product. The recipe even called for using Eggnog flavouring, which I couldn’t locate for the life of me. Having to use just regular Eggnog and vanilla extract, then, I really thought the outlook was grim. I did add a little extra Eggnog to the crumble mixture where I was short a little bit of butter, so maybe that helped too. In any case, an Eggnog muffin it was, and a happy girl I was as a result.As one last Christmasy hurrah, I present to you, in muffin form, the ever wonderful flavour of Eggnog!
Eggnog Muffins
from King Arthur Flour
Batter
1/4 cup (1/2 stick, 2 ounces) butter
3/4 cup (5 1/4 ounces) sugar
2 large eggs
2 1/2 cups (10 1/2 ounces) All-Purpose Flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon eggnog flavor or 1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) eggnog or half and halfTopping
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) sugar
1/2 cup (2 1/4 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon eggnog flavor, optional
3 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) butter, melted- Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a muffin tin with 12 paper or silicone muffin cups, and grease the cups with non-stick vegetable oil spray; this will ensure that they peel off the muffins nicely.
– In a medium-sized mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar till smooth. Add the eggs, beating for several minutes and scraping the bowl, till the mixture is smooth and light colored. Beat in the baking powder, nutmeg, salt, and eggnog flavor or vanilla.
– Stir the flour into the butter mixture alternately with the eggnog or half and half, beginning and ending with the flour and making sure everything is thoroughly combined. Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared muffin cups.
– Stir together all of the topping ingredients JUST till crumbly. Stir gently, and don’t overmix; you don’t want to turn this crumbly topping into a solid mass. Sprinkle the topping over the muffins.
– Bake the muffins for 20 minutes, or until they’re a pale golden brown. Remove them from the oven, and serve warm, or at room temperature.
Yield: 12 muffins.
Source: http://foodjetaimee.blogspot.com/2011/12/eggnog-muffins.html
