A Cure For Rainy Days and Mondays

Rainy days and Mondays always get you down, right? Well, not anymore, thanks to these delicious Martha Stewart muffins chosen by Anuradha at Baker Street for this weeks Muffin Monday roundup.

I was honored when she asked if I would be interested in participating, since so many creative and talented bakers are, and have been, contributors.  What a great way to promote fellowship, sharing, and learning among bakers and foodies alike. 

After receiving my email and recipe, my first thought was how adaptable this could be to different flavors and presentations. I love the sour cream for it's contribution of tang and moisture; And streusel topping, yum!, I love it on so many baked goods.

Since everybody loves springy muffin tops, unless they're on the beach hanging out of too small bikini's, and streusel is my favorite, I scaled my muffins kind of heavy, gambling on a great muffin top at the risk of a volcanic muffin eruption in the oven.  It turned out that I was slightly heavy, but no disasters!

I often play with recipes and put my own touch on them, but when making them for the first time, I usually tow the line just to have a baseline of what the original product was meant to be. However, I did vary from the presentation a little just to show the versatility of this type of recipe.  Instead of a dozen jumbo muffins, I used various 'bake and serve' containers from one of my favorite companies, NovaCart.  These are ovenable containers in a variety of shapes and  sizes that offer a more upscale alternative to foil pans.

The only straying from the original recipe was when I used the 4 x 4 square container. Here, I added some fresh blueberries to the top and finished with a simple 'roll icing' to create a cute little personal size coffee cake.

The beauty of good muffin recipes like this is that you can add flavors, fruits, etc. while changing the presentation, and excite your friends and neighbors with your gourmet baking prowess! Of course, my neighbors get excited when they beat the vultures to a fresh road kill, and think gourmet eating is having ketchup with their chicken nuggets.

Quick Release, free standing muffin cups. Cool, huh?

The final result? An easy, yummy, versatile muffin sure to keep rainy days and Mondays from ever getting you down again. And, muffin tops you'll be proud to show your spouse!

Be sure to visit Baker Street for links to other great entries to Monday Muffin's. :-)

Ingredients
For The Muffins
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for greasing
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for greasing
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sour cream
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
Confectioners' sugar (optional)

For The Streusel Topping
1 cup packed dark-brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour, (spooned and leveled)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- For the streusel topping: In a medium bowl, stir together brown sugar, flour, and salt. With a pastry blender or two knives, cut in butter until mixture resembles large coarse crumbs; refrigerate until ready to use.
- For the Muffins: Butter and flour a jumbo 12-cup muffin tin (or two 6-cup muffin tins). In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and baking soda; set aside.
- On medium speed, beat together butter, sour cream, granulated sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until well combined. With mixer on low, beat flour mixture into butter mixture.
- Divide half the batter among prepared muffin cups. Top with half the streusel mixture, then remaining batter, and top with streusel.
- Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool in pan 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with confectioners' sugar, if desired.

Muffin Monday is an initiative by Baker Street. A culinary journey of sharing a wickedly delicious muffin recipe every week. Drop in a quick line to join her on her journey to make the world smile and beat glum Monday mornings week after week.