Breakfast? Make Mine Sweet!

By Ben Mims
For Cooking Newbie, a blog for beginner cooks

Throughout my life, I’ve noticed there are two types of people: those who like a savory breakfast and those who like a sweet one. And while I’ve met far more that prefer savory, I’m proud to say I’m in the sweet minority.

That hit of sugary richness is a boost to my morning, and the way I see it, if I eat sweets in the morning, I have all day to burn off all that sugar by the end of the day; it keeps me from binging on a giant slice of cake in the afternoon.

In actuality, most times my breakfast is a slice of cake. But these muffins are as close to cake as one can get while still feeling less indulgent than consuming traditional cake. And they’re mini so you can have a two or eight and it’s still better than cake.

I fill these muffins, made with brown sugar, buttermilk and vanilla bean, with loads of strawberries and a streusel topping, which helps add crunch to the soft muffin. Feel free to substitute any similar fruit for the strawberries, like chopped raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, or even ripe peaches or other stone fruit.

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Strawberry Streusel Mini Muffins
Makes about 4 dozen

3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1-1/2 cups sugar, divided
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
Zest of 1/2 orange
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed
1/2 cup finely chopped almonds
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped and reserved
12 ounces strawberries finely chopped

1. First, make the streusel by combining 1/2 cup each of the flour and sugar, 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of the salt, orange zest, butter and almonds in a bowl. Rub ingredients together with your fingers until it forms clumps. Refrigerate until ready to use.
2. To make the muffins, heat oven to 350°F. Combine the remaining 3 cups flour and 1 teaspoon salt in a large bowl along with the baking powder and baking soda, and whisk until well-mixed. In another bowl, whisk together the remaining 1 cup sugar and ½ cup brown sugar along with the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla seeds until smooth. Add the strawberries to the dry ingredients (the flour mixture) then pour the wet ingredients (the buttermilk mixture) over them, and then gently stir until the batter comes together and there are no pockets of dry ingredients left unmixed.
3. Spray mini muffin tins with nonstick baking spray (or grease them with butter and dust them with flour), and then drop 2 tablespoons batter into each mold. Sprinkle about 1 teaspoon streusel topping over each, and then bake until risen and golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle of each comes out clean, about 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool completely and then unmold before serving.

Note: To make orange zest, check out this Special Fork video.

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