So here's a secret. Well, it's not really a secret, more like a well-known fact to those who live with me. Sometimes, I have so many things that I am tending too, that I make a bad (or lazy) tactical decision because I am just plain worn out or maybe slightly overwhelmed.
That little bit of explanatory floof aside, let's examine exhibit A regarding the above assertion about my life state:
That is my sourdough starter. Yes, it looks like a juvenile baking soda and vinegar science project. What happened was, I had to make a trip to the airport to pick up my daughter, take my son to the shooting range for his shotgun team practice, while my hubs hauled my daughter and her show steer to the fairgrounds for weigh in for the State Fair. Interspersed throughout all of that was countless everyday farm chores and an upset child I had to spend an hour momming because parenting never takes a day off. Plus more stuff that I can't even recall at this point.
So, instead of properly discarding my discard, I just threw some flour and water in for those two chaotic days in a row and figured I would just have A LOT of discard, which was cool because I would make a big batch of something.
And I mean, I did achieve making a big batch, and a big clean up job too. Sigh....
Anyway, on to more positive pastures, my hubs is not a huge fan of chocolate, and this past week I made a lot of chocolatey things for the herd of Spring Break Heathens that were lurking about the farm. So, I thought I would make the hubs some nice and spicy muffins for breakfast.
I had picked up some freshly ground nutmeg and before you could say Clumsy Spice I had some flour, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, and of course nutmeg in a mixing bowl.
After whisking the dry ingredients a bit, I plunked a couple of duck eggs, oil, applesauce, vanilla extract, milk, and sourdough starter into the bowl. My face was beaming, because I truly love one bowl recipes! Hooray for less cleanup.
After mixing all of the ingredients together just enough to combine the batter, I dispensed the batter into the greased muffin tins.
Now this recipe will make two six cup giant muffin tins (12 giant) or two 12 cup regular muffin tins (24), or if you are feelings super dangerous, 12 regular sized muffins and 6 giant muffins.
After popping the muffins into my new oven to bake, I tackled the sourdough starter volcanic eruption. So much for saving myself a bit of time, it took a bunch of Kat credits to scrub and chip that mess up, but I took solace in the aroma that was emanating for the oven, the muffins smelled amazing.
When the timer screamed at me like a creature requesting a manager, I opened the oven door to a scene of culinary pleasure. The muffins had baked perfectly.
I set them on the counter to cool and busied myself melting some butter and whisking some sugar and cinnamon together.
Now, I am sure these muffins would taste just dandy naked, but I went a step further and dipped them into melted butter and the cinnamon/sugar blend.
Then, I left them to cool and I went to bed.
This morning, as the hubs sat in his chair watching YouTube, he had an uncharacteristic feature adorning his face. My Hawaiian is pretty stoic, not prone to volatile expressions of any kind, but as he devoured one of the muffins, I thought I detected a glimmer of a smile on his mostly serious face.
So yep, I think these muffins are pretty tasty!
Cinnamon Sourdough Muffins
3 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 TBSP cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup applesauce
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs (I used duck eggs so you might want to add another egg if yours are on the small/medium side)
2 cups sourdough starterFor the tops:
4 TBSP butter (melted)
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2-1tsp cinnamonPreheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease or line 2 regular 12 muffin tins or 2 giant 6 muffin tins. Or one of each like I did!
Add flour, brown sugar, white sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, and salt to a mixing bowl and whisk to combine.
Next, add eggs, vegetable oil, applesauce, milk, vanilla extract, and sourdough starter to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Do not overmix!
Fill each muffin cup 1/2 way full with batter and bake 18-20 minutes for regular sized muffins and 20-22 minutes for giant sized muffins.
Let muffins cool 15 minutes or so, and remove from tins.
For the topping: Melt the butter and place in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk the cinnamon and sugar together. One at a time, dip the tops of the muffins in butter and then the cinnamon sugar mix. Then....ENJOY!
Note: This recipe makes 24 regular sized muffins or 12 giant sized muffins.
And as most of the time, all of the images in this post were taken on the author's probably better cared for than her sourdough starter was this weekend iPhone. The cover image was edited in Canva.