Happy Friday, everyone! Personally, I’m thrilled to have made it to this weekend. On Wednesday night I enjoyed the last class meeting of my third grad school class. Check check! The class came and went so quickly in a mere six weeks that Wednesday night happened without any big to-do. Well, other than the wine and champagne we enjoyed in class, of course. What can I say? Food studies students do things in style!

By the time I got home on Wednesday and allowed myself a little much-needed time to relax, it had occurred to me what I just accomplished. I enjoyed a sweet little moment alone to celebrate, wine glass in hand. Three classes down, seven more to go. The next one starts this coming Tuesday, which leaves today and tomorrow for fun fun fun. Reading starts Sunday!

So I want to leave you with this little gem for your weekend. Whether you had a great week, hard week, short, or long, these muffins filled with cinnamon and topped with a generous heaping of streusel will make every single thing better. I promise. The cake of these muffins if moist and soft with just about the perfect sized crumb, thanks to the addition of the cornstarch. Inside the cake you’ll find a dark, fragrant dollop of cinnamon and brown sugar. It doesn’t ooze out of the muffin, it just sits there waiting patiently for you to find it. And then if that weren’t enough, the streusel on top offers a little crunch, and a lot of extra flavor. These muffins will just about melt in your mouth. I hope you can take the time to wake up early, brew some coffee, and stick these puppies in the oven. By the time the rest of the world catches up with you, they’ll be lucky if you haven’t eaten every last one.

Cinnamon Streusel Muffins

Ever so slightly adapted from The Curvy Carrot

Yield: 12 muffins

Ingredients

Streusel:

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

1/4 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

Filling:

3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 Tablespoons ground cinnamon

Muffins:

8 Tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

3/4 cup 1-2% milk

2 large whole eggs

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup rolled oats

2 Tablespoons cornstarch

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400° F.

Line a cupcake pan with liners or thoroughly spread with soft butter, inside the cups and along the top of the pan.

Streusel:

In a microwaveable bowl, soften the butter. Add the remaining streusel ingredients and stir to combine until the mixture is crumbly. Set aside.

Filling:

In a microwaveable bowl, soften the butter. Add the brown sugar and cinnamon to the butter. Stir to thoroughly combine. Set aside.

Muffins:

In a microwaveable bowl, melt the butter. Add the milk and eggs to the butter. Whisk until thoroughly combined.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, cornstarch, sugar, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Stir lightly with a spoon or spatula until the batter is smooth and well-combined.

Fill each cup in the pan half way with batter.

Place 2 teaspoons of the filling on top of the batter in each cup.

Then fill the cups with the remaining batter, on top of the filling.

Sprinkle as much of the streusel on top of each muffin as will fit without spilling over to the top of the pan.

Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the tops of the muffins are lightly browned all over.

Enjoy!