Cardamom Coffee Cake Muffins

 
Cardamom Coffee Cake is one of my all time favorite things ever.  It's from the original Moosewood Cookbook, written by Mollie Katzen in 1977.  The hand lettering and hand drawn illustrations make it seem downright quaint next to today's flashy publications, but the humble collection of vegetarian recipes became one of the top ten best selling cookbooks of all time and was one of the first cookbooks I ever owned.  I don't know why I haven't brought it up till now, probably because the recipe makes a large coffee cake and without the kids around full time it seemed like too much.  But the other day while I was trying to think of something to make for breakfast, a little light bulb went off in my head...why not halve the recipe and make muffins?!

I'm eating the first muffin fresh out of the oven right now as I'm typing this and all I can say is OMG.  I know, you're a seasoned blog reader and you've heard all this before. You know that bloggers are forever claiming they've made the perfect this or that, just to up their readership or go viral on Pinterest.  I don't blame you if you just go on with your day and don't give me and my muffin another thought.  Of course if you do, you just might be missing the muffin of a lifetime. Anyway, whether you believe me or not doesn't really alter the fact: this is the perfect muffin.  

They are light moist and rich. Just look at that golden crumb. The aromatic taste of cardamom lingers on the taste buds and that little layer of streusel explodes with flavor when you bite into it.  I was surprised to read that cardamom, which is native to India, is the third most expensive spice in the world, following saffron and vanilla. You can grind it fresh from the pods or buy it already ground.  I've used it in both sweet and savory dishes and it's a regular ingredient in Indian, Middle Eastern, and Nordic cuisine, so it's worth having around.
 

If you are having family or guests stay over for the holiday weekend I can't thing of a better way to treat them when they wake up.

Cardamom Coffee Cake Muffins                    ~~~adapted from The Moosewood Cookbook

makes 12 muffins
oven to 350
2 sticks, 1/2 lb, unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup  brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 Tbs cardamom
1 cup sour cream or buttermilk (I used 1/2 cup sour cream, 1/2 cup buttermilk)
for the streusel
1/4 cup  brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cardamom
1 cup walnuts, finely chopped

•  Spray a 12 cup muffin pan with cooking spray, or use muffin liners.
• Mix the streusel in a small bowl and set aside.  Make sure your walnuts are finely chopped, and that you get the lumps of brown sugar broken down.
•  Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cardamom in another small bowl and set aside.
• Measure out the sour cream or buttermilk, or mix the two if you are using both, and set aside.
• Cream the butter and brown sugar until fluffy.  
• Beat in the eggs, one at a time.  Blend in the vanilla.
• Fold the flour into the butter mixture in thirds, alternating with the sour cream/buttermilk.  Just stir enough to blend, don't beat or over mix.
• Spoon a small scoop of batter into the bottom of 12 muffin cups.  Top with a teaspoon or so of streusel mix.  Scoop the remaining batter  on top and then top with another teaspoon of streusel, use up all the streusel.
• Bake for about 20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
• Cool for a few minutes before removing them from the pan to a rack.

Notes:  This batter is thick, so when you put the first scoop into the muffin cup, be sure to gently spread it out to more or less cover the bottom so the first layer of streusel doesn't fall down and make it difficult to remove the muffin after it's baked.  Or you can just use paper liners.  Make sure your walnuts are finely chopped so the streusel isn't too heavy.  I used my trusty small food processor.  You could leave out the cardamom and use all cinnamon, but don't.  The unique floral flavor of the cardamom is what makes these muffins stand out from the pack.

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