Cinnamon Crumb Muffins

Only 23 more school days until summer. If you've been with my blog for awhile, you already know about my love/hate relationship with summer vacation. Those first couple weeks are great, but the rest is just a continual test of my level of patience and creativity.

Summer provides my children with an abundant amount of free time, and that just isn't a good thing. They have various distractions throughout the day in the form of sports, church and chores but it just isn't enough. Summer break really makes me wish we lived on a farm where cows needed to be milked, manure scooped, hay bailed and chickens fed. That would help fulfill my belief that busy children = happy children = happy mother :)

So unless any of my faithful readers have some farm work they can loan me for about 12 weeks, I will just bribe my kiddos to be good this summer by whipping up tasty treats like these muffins. That is an appropriate form of parenting isn't it?

Cinnamon Crumb Muffins

by Williams Sonoma

Muffins

7 Tbs unsalted butter, at room temperature

2/3 C sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 C flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp nutmet

1/2 C buttermilk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Struesel

2 Tbs flour

1/3 C brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 Tb butter

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 10 muffins cups with paper liners.

2. In the bowl of your electric mixer with the flat beater, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat well until pale and smooth.

3. In another bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, salt and nutmeg. Add to the butter mixture in two additions, alternating with the buttermilk and vanilla. Stir just until evenly moist. The batter will be slightly lumpy. Evenly divide batter among muffin tins.

4. Make struesel by mixing together the flour, sugar and cinnamon. Cut in the butter until mixture resembles cornmeal. Sprinkle over the muffins and bake until muffins are springy to the touch, about 20 minutes.