Cinnamon Puffs

I actually made these last weekend but haven't had a chance to post. Been extremely busy. Was in Halifax for work the week before and I am taking a distant-learning class. Been playing catch-up for my class. Lots of lecture watching!

I bought 3 bags of cinnamon mini chips from King Arthur Flour a couple months ago and since have been playing around with recipes. My favorite thing to do with them is to bake cinnamon chip bread with a crunchy topping. I am trying to duplicate the topping from my local Great Harvest Bread Company. Still experimenting. I am also experimenting with different muffin recipes. This recipe is from The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion. The recipe doesn't call for cinnamon chips but I thought it would be a good compliment. I substituted buttermilk for the milk which I think produces a more tender muffin. The recipe uses nutmeg which I didn't care for, next time I using cinnamon. I used brown sugar and soft butter for the topping instead of sugar to get a strudel-like topping.

Cinnamon Puffs

Muffins (makes 12)

3 C. all-purpose flour

1 C. sugar

2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg (I think cinnamon would be better)

3/4 tsp. salt

2 large eggs

1 1/4 C. milk (used buttermilk)

5 1/3 tbsp (2/3 stick) butter, melted

1 C. cinnamon chips

Topping

1/4 C. sugar (used brown sugar)

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

4 tbsp (1/2 stick) butter, melted (used soft butter)

Preheat oven to 350 F. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. In another bowl, beat the eggs slight, then add milk and melted butter. Add the wet mixture to the flour mixture well. Stir just until evenly moistened. Fold in the cinnamon chips. Fill lightly greased muffin cups about 3/4 full. For the topping, mix sugar, cinnamon, and belted butter until blended. Sprinkle topping over the batter. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Original instructions for topping are to bake the muffins. Mix the sugar and cinnamon. When they are cool to touch, dip the muffin in the melted butter then in the cinnamon sugar mixture until coated.