The Friday Baking Project

Sour Cream Coffee Cake Muffins

Yield: 12 large muffins

Serving Size: One muffin

Method: Creaming

Ingredients

Streusel topping:

1 â…” cup (7.1 oz / 201 g) confectioners’ sugar, sifted

1 â…“ cup (6.2 oz / 176 g) all-purpose flour

12 tbl (6 oz / 170 g) unsalted butter, room temperature

Nut filling:

¾ cup (5.25 oz / 149 g) firmly packed dark brown sugar

2 tsp (.15 oz / 4 g) ground cinnamon

1 tbl (.2 oz / 6 g) cocoa powder

3 tbl (.9 oz / 26 g) currants

1 cup (4 oz / 114 g) chopped walnuts

Cake batter:

• 3 cups less 2 tbl (12.75 oz / 362 g) all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ tsp (.3 oz / 9 g) baking powder
• 1 ½ tsp (.3 oz / 9 g) baking soda
• ½ tsp (.1 oz / 3 g) salt

• ¾ cup (6 oz / 170 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 ½ cup (10.65 oz / 302 g) sugar

• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

• 2 cups sour cream

Tools and equipment needed:

• 2 “Texas†size muffin tins, each with 6 muffin capacity or 2 regular sized muffin tins, each with a 12-muffin capacity.
• Muffin liners, Jumbo or regular sized.
• Hand held or free-standing mixer with paddle attachment.
• Mixing bowls
• Rubber spatula, dry and liquid measuring cups, tablespoon measuring set, plastic pastry bag.

Pre-recipe preparations:

• Line muffin tins with muffin liners
• Bring butter and eggs to room temperature

Directions

Streusel topping:

1. In large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, and butter.
2. Using a fork, stir until fully combined with clumps ranging in size from crumb to that of a large bean.
3. Set aside in refrigerator.

Nut filling:

1. Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl, and combine well.
2. Set aside.

Cake batter and baking: (the assembly instructions are for the large muffins. See baking tips for standard muffins)

• Preheat oven to 375 °F

1. Stir dry ingredients together in mixing bowl. Set aside.
2. On medium speed, cream butter and sugar until very light and fluffy.
3. Beat eggs and vanilla together.
4. Add eggs in 3 stages, beating until thoroughly incorporated. Scrape bottom and sides of bowl with plastic spatula and beat until smooth.
5. On lowest speed, add the dry ingredients in three stages, alternately with the sour cream mixture in two stages, beginning and ending with the dry. Use a plastic spatula to scrape the sides and the bottom of the bowl and mix. Note – this is a fairly stiff batter.
6. The muffins are assembled by alternating three layers of the batter with two of the filling, topped with streusel.
7. Using a spoon, ice cream scoop, or large plastic pastry bag fill each muffin cup ¼ filled with batter.
8. Place approximately 1 tbl of the nut filling over the batter.
9. Add more batter just to cover the nut filling, then more nut filling, finishing with the third layer of batter. There should be approximately ¼â€ room at the top.
10. Cover each muffin cup with streusel topping.
11. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the muffins feel firm, and a cake tester comes out with just streaks of the nut filling. Be careful when testing muffin for firmness, as the streusel is very hot.
12. Place muffin tins on cooling rack and let cool for 10 minutes.
13. Remove muffins by carefully lifting each out of the tine and let cool on rack.

Baking Tips:

1. For the standard sized muffins, fill the muffin tin with two layers of batter and one of nut filling, topping with the streusel. Bake at 400 °F.
2. 21†clear plastic disposable pastry bags are very good for this, and many other pastry baking tasks. DayMark brand, available on Amazon are high quality. I presume Ateco’s are good as well.
3. To fill a large pastry bag with batter, roll the bag over a large measuring cup, or plastic quart container. Fill the bag ½ to ¾ fill, and twist at the top to form a seal.

Jumbo sized muffin cup liners are available from Amazon.