Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Allspice Crumb Muffins (TWD)


I treasure the early morning hours, especially on the weekends. Most people I know do whatever they can to squeeze in a extra hour or two of zzzzz's. I happily buck that trend, looking forward to the quiet pre-dawn hours on Saturday and Sunday. Once I get a humongous pot of coffee going, I dive into the pile magazines and books that accumulate on my my nightstand and leisurely read the morning paper (which is a rare treat for me).

Dorie Greenspan's Allspice Crumb Muffin was a delicious bonus to my early morning ritual. The prep work for this recipe was mercifully easy (I didn't even need to bring out a knife!), and for that minimal effort, I was rewarded with this yummy breakfast treat. To top it off, the house was filled that wonderful smell of something delicious baking in the oven.
This was the first time that I've made a recipe that calls for allspice to be front and center. I think I've been missing out, I loved the complex cinnamon-clove flavor of this spice. The muffin itself is very moist, and the streusel topping provides nice slightly crunchy texture contrast. The addition of lemon zest is an optional ingredient in the recipe, but I thought it provided essential flavor to complement the spice.

I used large muffin liners for this recipe, and the recipe yielded 8 jumbo muffins.
Thanks Kayte of Grandma's KitchenTable for this week's TWD selection. Please visit Kayte's blog for this recipe, or better yet go get yourself a copy of Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home To Yours.

24 comments:

chocolatechic said...

Brilliant idea to go jumbo~

Eliana said...

Love the jumbo muffin. It looks great!

Sherri Murphy said...

Looks like a favorite of mine! Love it!

vibi said...

Beautiful prensentation as usual... the texture looks like it was really nice!

Kayte said...

I have teen boys and I am thinking Jumbo could be good. I am also thinking that Allspice is going to get a little more play time around here as well. Your muffins look great! Thanks for baking with me this week...happy you liked them.

Anonymous said...

Great photos!

Snooky doodle said...

these look so good! I too like to wake up early and usually bake in the quite of the kitchen :)

The Food Librarian said...

Linda, those jumbo muffins look wonderful. i totally think we should all bake more with allspice. such a lovely little spice!

Nice photos!

Dolce said...

It looks terrific ! Airy and fluffy and ... sigh... so much that I still have to bake!

Dolce said...

They look airy and great...

Jennifer said...

Wow, your muffins really are gorgeous!!! I used cinnamon instead of the allspice...next time, I'll give the allspice a shot!

Unknown said...

What a wonderful weekend ritual - I like to get up early and enjoy the morning on the weekends too. Your muffins look fantastic - so glad you liked them. I definitely need to use allspice more often!

berkshire said...

Your muffins looks perfect... yummy...i made it two times but its not look good.. how i make it perfectly..

Babette said...

Nice photos, lovely muffins.

Anonymous said...

I didn't have any lemons in the house, so mine were zest-free. :-( Next time I'll give it a try. These were a perfect weekend morning snack.

Megan said...

I'm with you - I love the morning hours before anyone else gets up.

And to have a muffin to eat while it's quiet - even better.

betty geek said...

Linda, yours look insanely beautiful. Gorgeous close-ups of the muffins. Man oh man, I want one.

Pamela said...

I think this was a great recipe to make jumbo muffins with. I just truly enjoyed the flavors of the muffin and I am looking forward to making them again. I love those quiet mornings, too! Enjoy them!

Susan @ SGCC said...

Your muffins look fabulous! Well done! I really loved them too!

Anonymous said...

Your jumbo muffins look like a great breakfast!

Ingrid_3Bs said...

Yum, those do look great! Unlike yourself I want/need those extra zzzz's. :)
~ingrid

Tia said...

yours are perfect!!!

Sarah said...

Your muffins look fantastic! I really loved these, and will definitely be using allspice more often.

limo hire said...

Love the muffins....looks perfect.

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