Blueberry Coffee Cake Cups w Crunchy Walnut Topping

I really love breakfast foods. And I adore coffee cake. But the stuff that’s usually sold at Starbucks and coffee shops just doesn’t do it for me. Too sweet…too much like…cake?

When I got this Williams-Sonoma dessert cookbook I was bored and rummaging my way through the Virginia outlet stores. If you’re not already aware of the insanely great deals at the outlets, well, you have some exploring to do!

The book itself was 50% off, making it a cool $7. Plus it’s organized by color. Which, is appealing in its own OCD way. “Yes, I’m only eating BLUE foods this week. Thank you.”

The cake part of this coffee cake is made with sour cream. I love the tartness it adds to the mix. It’s the perfect balance to the sweet blueberries. And the crunchy walnut topping brings a zing in the texture department.

I think you’ll like it. It looks so pretty too…however you make it…in a muffin pan or a springform pan.

Enjoy!

Zucchini Walnut Muffins

For some reason, I associate zucchini walnut muffins with my Aunt. Maybe it was her favorite kind? I just remember her bringing them over to my Grandmother’s house once when I was about counter top-height and I was fascinated by them.  Loved the suckers ever since.

Then there’s this silly thing…my Dad will often refer to a zucchini as a “zuke” or “zukes” for plural. Oh Dad! He makes me giggle.

Not too many notes on this recipe, folks. It’s a good one…the original recipe throws out the option to include raisins or dried cranberries…meh. I’m not too keen on that. Plus I was trying recreate a childhood memory here. I imagine you could bake this batter in a loaf pan rather than muffin cups if you made a few temperature/time adjustments.

I also had a thought last night:  maybe subbing the nutmeg/cinnamon combo for some pumpkin pie spice…or maybe even throwing in a half cup of pumpkin puree might deepen the flavors in this recipe? I’ll have to give it a try next time I make these! Or if you try, let me know how it goes!

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Muffins

Do you have any memories of your mom baking or cooking something? Memories so clear it’s like they happened yesterday? One of my many memories with my mother, include these muffins. For a few reasons…

When my mom started making these muffins, I fell in love with powdered dry milk. Is that weird? Dairy purists everywhere are gasping, I’m sure. Anyway. To this day, I still keep dry milk in my cupboard just in case I run out or need milk STAT. I love dry milk.

Second thing about these muffins I remember: we made them so often that the wooden spoon I grew up stiring things with (and, in fact, still use in my own kitchen today) started to turn orange from all the carrots!! Ha!