Perfect Pumpkin Crumble Muffins

Are you one of those people that goes pumpkin crazy come September? I hate to say I am, but I did get pretty excited when I saw the new pumpkin section at Trader Joes today. I absolutely could not leave without a box of This Pumpkin Walks Into the Bar... Probably just because they had a fun name, but whatever. I had one for dinner tonight, and they were delicious. Yea. I'm healthy I know.

Anyways, speaking of pumpkin, you have to try these pumpkin crumble muffins. They are the perfect blend of pumpkin and sweetness. They aren't over the top, I think I just gave myself a cavity sweet, but just sweet enough so you can eat one for breakfast and not feel too guilty.

the more crumble and powdered sugar the better!

Pumpkin Muffin
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 cup pure pumpkin
¼ cup milk
⅓ cup melted butter
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

Pumpkin Crumble
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup brown sugar, packed
2 heaping tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
pinch of salt
6 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line a muffin pan with paper cupcake liners (this will make approximately 12-14 muffins).

Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice in a medium size bowl and set aside. Combine pure pumpkin, milk, melted butter, eggs, and vanilla and mix well. Slowly add the flour mixture, and mix until well blended. Scoop mixture into prepared muffin pan (I added a heaping ¼ cup batter to each liner), and set aside.

To make pumpkin crumble, combine flour, brown sugar, sugar, pumpkin pie spice and salt, Stir to combine. Add melted butter and stir with a fork until crumbs form. Spoon crumble onto muffins pressing lightly on each. In my opinion, you can never have too much crumble. It's obviously the best part.

Bake for 20 minutes, and then cover with foil and bake for another 5 minutes until a toothpick inserted into muffin comes out clean. Cool and dust with powdered sugar. Don't forget the powder sugar dusting. It is essential. I fed one to Cory without the powdered sugar, and he thought they were too plain, but with the powdered sugar, mmmmm, mmmmm, mmmmm. Enjoy!

The Best Blueberry Muffins EVER

I'm on a quest to check a few more things off my 28 Things Before 28 list since I've been majorly slacking. I figured a good place to start would be in the kitchen because let's get real - no way am I getting cozy with a snake anytime in the near future...especially not after my friend showed me this. I'm also so ridiculously sick of eating the same thing day in and day out. If I have to look at another protein bar, plate of eggs or fruit smoothie I might go insane. Plus, I need to teach myself to be domestic if I have any chance at all of ever landing myself a husband. Obviously. 

I seriously have enough recipes on my Pinterest boards to last a lifetime. On my breakfast/brunch board alone I have 173 pins. Have I ever made even one of them? Of course not. I think this is a good place to start. I need to be certain I can whip up a solid breakfast should I ever have any overnight house guests. ;) First up - THE best blueberry muffins ever...at least according to the recipe. Hopefully these live up to their high, high expectations. Let's get cookin'!

Blueberry Muffins

Streusel Topping
3 T sugar
3 T brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
5 T melted butter

Muffins
2 cups fresh blueberries
1 1/8 cups plus 1 teaspoon sugar
1 T water
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Heat over to 425 degrees. Prepare muffin tins with nonstick cooking spray or liners. Bring 1 cup blueberries, water, and 1 teaspoon sugar to simmer in saucepan over medium heat. Cook (mashing berries with a fork) and stir frequently until berries have broken down and mixture is thickened. It should be reduced by about half. Transfer to a small bowl and cool to room temperature.

Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl. Whisk remaining sugar and eggs together in medium bowl until thick. Slowly mix in butter and oil. Next add buttermilk and vanilla. Fold egg mixture and remaining cup blueberries into flour mixture until just moistened. Yuck. Hate that word. Batter should be very lumpy with a few spots of dry flour.

Divide batter equally among prepared muffin cups. It should completely fill the cups and mound slightly. Add a teaspoon of cooked berry mixture into the center of each mound of batter. Swirl berry filling into batter. The recipe said to use a chopstick. I didn't have any chopsticks laying around so I used a toothpick and it worked just fine. Sprinkle streusal over muffins and bake until muffin tops are golden. It should be around 15-17 minutes. Cool, then enjoy...or if you are impatient like me, eat right away and burn your tongue. Totally worth it.