Coffeecake Muffins
54 comments » 
For as much as I love them, I make far too few muffins. When the urge to bake suddenly hit last week, I wanted to make something different, something I hadn’t made in awhile, and something that wouldn’t necessarily be a dessert either. Muffins seemed like the perfect choice, and great ones can serve double duty as breakfast OR dessert, and these coffeecake muffins definitely fall into that category. The pecan and dark brown sugar streusel is mixed into the batter as well as sprinkled on top of the muffins for a full blown sugary-spicy flavor that rivals the best of coffee cakes.
Although you don’t necessarily have to include the glaze on top of these, it really would be a sin not to. The muffins are certainly fabulous on their own, but the glaze puts them over the top, especially if you want to keep the dessert option on the table (no pun intended!). The glaze soaks into the streusel on top leaving just enough sitting on top to look pretty, and runs down the side. These muffins would be perfect for a brunch or wedding or baby shower.
A food processor is used for this recipe because it can be used both to chop the nuts and mix the batter. If you don’t have a food processor, first chop the nuts with a knife. Proceed with the recipe, mixing the ingredients in a large bowl with a wooden spoon or spatula, then use a wire whisk to cream the butter-sugar mixture.
What are your favorite muffins?
1 year ago: Grown-Up Mac and Cheese
2 years ago: Chocolate Rum Cheesecake
Coffeecake Muffins
Yield: Makes 12
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 18 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
Ingredients:
½ cup pecans
¼ cup (1¾ ounces) dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups (10 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 cup (7 ounces) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces and softened
1½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ cup sour cream
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extractFor Glaze (optional):
1 cup confectioner's sugar
2 tablespoons waterDirections:
1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a standard 12-cup muffin tin and set aside.
2. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, process the nuts, brown sugar, and cinnamon until the nuts are the size of sesame seeds, about ten 1-second pulses. Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides and bottom of the food processor bowl and transfer the mixture to a medium bowl and set aside.
3. Return the bowl and metal blade to the food processor, add the flour, granulated sugar, and salt and process until combined, about five 1-second pulses. Sprinkle the butter evenly over the flour mixture and process until the butter is the size of oats, about eight 1-second pulses. Remove ½ cup of the flour-butter mixture and stir it with a fork into the reserved brown sugar mixture until combined to make the streusel. Set aside ¾ cup of the streusel for the muffin batter and the remaining portion for topping the muffins.
4. Add the baking powder and baking soda to the remaining flour mixture in the food processor bowl and process until combined, about five 1-second pulses. Whisk together the sour cream, egg, and vanilla in a 1-cup glass measuring cup and add to the flour mixture. Process until the batter is just moistened, about five 1-second pulses. Add the remaining ¾ cup of the streusel to the flour mixture and process until the streusel is just distributed throughout the batter and the batter looks crumbly, about five 1-second pulses.
5. Using a large spoon sprayed with nonstick cooking spray to prevent sticking, divide the batter among 12 muffin cups. Sprinkle with a scant tablespoon of streusel on top of each muffin, pressing lightly so that the streusel sinks slightly into the batter. Bake the muffins until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out with several crumbs clinging to it, about 18 minutes, rotating the pan from front to back halfway through the baking time. Avoid overbaking. Place the muffin tin on a wire rack and allow the muffins to cool in the tin for 2 minutes. Using the tip of a paring knife, loosen the muffins and gently transfer them from the tin to the wire rack. Cool for 5 minutes. Serve warm.
6. If glazing the muffins, place a sheet of parchment paper beneath the wire rack as the muffins cool. Whisk the confectioner's sugar and water in a medium bowl until smooth. Spoon about 2 teaspoons glaze over each muffin, letting the glaze run down the sides of the muffins. Serve warm.
(Source: Baking Illustrated
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These muffins look great! Corn muffins are my favorite. Got a great recipe?
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Love these! Yum, muffins are perfect for three day weekends:)
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Well, just to let you know, I made these this morning! I wanted to make the kids something special for breakfast and woke up and saw your post. They were so good and love that I did it all in the food processor…Usually when I see food processor I dismiss the recipe…too many things to clean, but when I saw that I didn’t use anything else, I thought…I’ll give them a try. They were great!! I made my glaze a maple glaze and that was really good too.
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These look absolutely fabulous, I’m glad you decided to make muffins
The glaze looks like the perfect touch on top too!
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I love pumpkin muffins (http://www.heidisfullplate.com/2009/05/pumpkin-muffins.html). We make lots of muffins in our home for breakfast and snacks. Can’t wait to try these.
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Those look fantastic, I love your photo, and the way the glaze is dripping off of them, so tempting!
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Wow, these sound amazing! I will have to give these a try soon.
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Those look so scrumptious!
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Oh wow…I love coffeecake and I never make it. But these look pretty simple so I just might have to try these out soon!
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Oh MY! ♥
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I’m a streusel addict so the sound of a muffin with streusel both inside and on top sounds perfect!! Yummmmmmm.
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mmmmmmmmmm they look so good!
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My favorite are Apple muffins. But if I could find an Orange Cranberry to die for, I wouldn’t hesitate to jump ship.
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My husband has been begging me to make coffee cake lately. I just may have to surprise him with these little babies!
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oh boy….I’d love a batch of those. I’m going to have to save this recipe and make them very soon! YUM!
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Oooh those look great! I don’t think I’ve ever made coffee cake in muffin form. What a terrific breakfast these would be!
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These muffins look super yummy. My favorite kind is lemon poppy seed. Hmmmmm
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Made these on Monday and they are DELISH! Very easy, i loved that you only used the food processor, turned out perfectly. Will make again FOR SURE!
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I made these this morning for my 4 kiddos. They LOVED them. I used fresh ground wheat and succant with honey. YUM!! YUM!!Thanks for all the delicious recipes!! Blessings!
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Wow these muffins look great I can’t wait to try the recipe! Personally I just love simple blueberry muffins, so easy to make and so tasty too.
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I made these muffins today and they were delicious and easy to make! I think I can say these are my new favourites, although I can never go past chocolate
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wow! these looks super yummy! (: Thanks for sharing! Oh yes. Is it alright if I link you to my blog? Thanks!
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Great cupcakes for a nice Afternoon Tea. Looking forward to trying them soon!
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I am not sure I can choose a favorite muffin. Right now, I’m in love with these. My other favorites? Zucchini or carrot cake muffins (or cupcakes, depending on what you feel like calling them), lemon poppyseed, banana nut…
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oh gosh, there are so many muffins I love but to name a few; blueberry, coffee cake, banana, apple spiced muffins are my favorites
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These look soooo tempting! I had a German Chocolate Muffin the other day, could swear it was like eating cake. Your muffins look YYUUMMYY!
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If you overbake it, does it get crumbly? I cooked mine for 20 minutes cause i didn’t think they were done at 18 & they were falling apart as i was taking them out of the muffin tins. Anyone else have this problem? i’m making a 2nd batch for a friend so i’ll try cooking them less to see if that helps… Taste-wise they are DELICIOUS!
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just wanted to say that i baked batch #2 & pulled them out at 18 minutes & they held together & were not crumbly. this will definitely be a favorite in our house! (with icing!)
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Hi Gwyn – I’m happy to hear that your second batch was a success! Mine didn’t turn crumbly at all so it seems like it just may have been a case of overbaking. Thanks for the comment!
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Hi nice muffins. pls tell me recipe for walnut muffins without egg i want to try it for weekend. drop in sometime. you have a nice blog. Pls mail me at simplysara07@gmail.com thanks
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I made these for a bake sale and I got rave reviews! They are absolutely delicious. I did two batches and for half I used the streusel topping and for the other half I used cream cheese frosting and topped it with some ground pecans. Thank you!
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I made these for my mom’s breakfast meeting and boy were they a hit. People wanted to take an extra home with them. I even got a text message praising me for baking the muffins!
Thanks for a great recipe!
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I love your blog! I have made several of your recipes and they all are wonderful! I made these muffins yesterday, divine! Do you think instead of muffins you could put the mix in an 8×8 or a 9×13 pan?
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Michelle on March 21st, 2011 at 12:05 am
Hi Jessie, You could try putting this batter in a pan. I’ve never done it so can’t attest to how it would turn out, but I would use an 8×8 and increase the bake time just a bit and start checking for doneness after about 20 minutes.
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So excited to make these!!!! They look DANGEROUS!! I’ll let you know tomorrow how they come out
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And yes, i was right- they are soooooo dangerous. Best muffin i’ve ever tasted. I was short on time so i skipped the glaze and it was heavenly even without it, but i plan on glazing the very few that are left
Can’t wait for my sunday breakfast in bed-these muffins will bring it to new levels!!! I was just wondering, do u think i can make it by hand after running the nuts mixture through the food processor? Cuz it was a bit annoying as the blade kept getting stuck in all that dough…
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Michelle on July 20th, 2011 at 5:57 pm
Yes, I think you could definitely do it by hand. Glad you enjoyed the muffins!
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These muffins are incredible! Michelle, do you know why these sank in the middle? I’m by no means an expert baker!
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Michelle on August 18th, 2011 at 10:59 pm
Hi Kim, When cakes or muffins sink in the middle it’s usually due to the center not being baked the whole the way through, and as it cools it starts to sink down.
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Thanks for your response! They had actually already sunk when I opened the oven door. They seemed done in the middle. Could I have done something wrong? They were still delicious!
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ok…these muffins look crazy good! my favorites are pumpkin butterscotch and donut muffins.
p.s love your site!
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Wonderful muffin everyone at work went wild for these! Very sweet and perfect with a cup of coffee!
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Wow! Made these muffins, along with your oatmeal applesauce & lemon poppyseed muffins this morning! These were my favorite, but all three delicious!!
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can you make these without the pecans, i don’t have time to run to the store but i really want to try them
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Michelle on July 28th, 2012 at 3:57 pm
Hi Star, Absolutely! Enjoy!
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Made these the other day. So good! I used a mini-muffin pan instead of a regular one, and got nearly four dozen mini muffins out of the posted recipe. I had to make them ahead of time for an event, which ended up being good because I actually thought they were a little dry at first. I iced them the night before I needed them, and I found that after about twelve hours the icing had moistened the muffin just the perfect amount.
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