Spiced Donut Muffins

Last week I made some muffins for a Christmas breakfast. I estimated that wo-thirds of the attendees would be 16 and under, so I looked for a recipe that would appeal to both young and old eaters. Donut muffins? Seemed like a slam dunk.  The tops puff up so they are nice and rounded. You know, the type of muffin tops kids love to eat and then leave the bottom for you to finish?  I found the recipe on the King Arthur website. The reviews were mostly positive, so I decided to whip up a double batch.
If you are looking for a sweet treat to go with your Christmas breakfast, look no further. This is quick and easy and tastes like a spiced cake donut, in a muffin. Yum.
You probably have all of the ingredients in your pantry right now if you want to make a batch for, um, testing purposes.
Christmas is in less than two weeks.
I need to quit baking and start shopping.

Spiced Donut Muffins
Adapted from King Arthur Flour
print recipe

Muffins:
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 to 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 2/3 cups flour ( I used 1 1/3 cake flour, 1 1/3 all purpose)*
1 cup milk, whole, or reduced fat is fine

Topping:
3 tablespoons melted butter
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon or cinnamon/nutmeg mixture


Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Set rack in center of oven. Line 12 muffin cups or grease the cups if not using liners.
In a medium sized bowl, beat the softened butter, vegetable oil and sugars until smooth. Add the eggs and beat again until smooth.
Stir in the baking powder, soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt and vanilla.
Stir in the flour and milk alternately, make sure all ingredients are combined.
Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin cups. The cups should be almost full.
Bake the muffins for 15-18 minutes or until tops are golden brown and set.
Remove from oven.
While muffins are cooling a bit, melt the butter in a small bowl. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, combine the sugar and additional cinnamon.
Take the still hot muffins and dip the top into the melted butter, then the cinnamon sugar mixture.
Best served warm.

Tips:
-I used a blend of cake and all purpose flour to get a lighter muffin texture. You may use either type.
-I adjusted the original amount of nutmeg in this recipe to appeal more to kids. I felt that more cinnamon and less nutmeg worked best. The original recipe called for 1 1/4 teaspoons without cinnamon in the batter.
-Make sure to have the oven heated properly. Pre-heat while you are making the batter.
-This recipe could be altered to use a glaze as the topping, or drizzled chocolate. Or a sprinkle of powdered sugar and unsweetened cocoa. the possibilities are endless.
-One reader suggested pouring these into a donut pan made for baking. After baking, shaking the "donuts" in a paper sack with sugar while still hot.

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