CRUMB CAKE MUFFINS!

Yay for recipes! We are happy to introduce our first teaser recipe! Wouldn't you know it? It's a muffin. The Bag Lady's Crumb Cake Muffins are very likely my favorite muffin in her vast repertoire, so you are all in for a treat. It's perfectly delightful to bite into a warm, soft, fragrant muffin base generously coated in a pillow of cinnamon kissed crumbs. In fact, I am one of those people that pulls the muffin top of first, because it is the best part...wasn't there a Seinfeld episode about muffin tops?

The posted recipe is the food storage version. When we make these muffins for a regular breakfast, we use fresh butter and save the canned butter. You never know when you'll need a crumb muffin in the midst of a crisis. The canned butter we buy has a 30 year shelf life and tastes almost exactly like fresh butter. Different brands of canned butter have different tastes, so make sure you taste-test before you buy any large quantities for storage.





Crumb Cake Muffins
Batter:
1 cup + 2 tablespoons water
½ cup cooled melted canned butter
Re-closable bag:
1¾ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup granulated white sugar
1¾ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons powdered egg
3 tablespoons powdered milk

Pantry items:
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract
Vegetable shortening

Muffin Topping:
1/3 cup softened canned butter
Re-closable bag:
¾ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup brown sugar*
½ teaspoon cinnamon

Directions
Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease muffin pan cups with vegetable shortening. In a small bowl, combine topping ingredients. Stir topping ingredients until they resemble coarse crumbs. Pour dry ingredients into a large bowl. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and add water, butter, vanilla, and almond extract. Stir just enough to combine dry ingredients with the wet ingredients, do not over mix. Fill muffin cups ⅔ full of batter. Top muffin batter with prepared topping. Lightly spritz muffin topping with water. This will help adhere crumb topping to muffin batter. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean. Cool muffins 5 minutes before removing from cups.

*Be sure to combine brown sugar with other ingredients when you bag your mix or you will have a hard lump of brown sugar as time passes.



Like all good crumb cakes, this is loaded with butter and sugar. Although it may not be heart healthy, it will lure your teenage boys away from their Poptarts and Lucky Charms. Now THAT is magically delicious!