Pumpkin-Coffee Cake Muffins

Because I’m a white girl, I am obliged to upload at least 1 pumpkin recipe in the fall. So this is it.

On Friday, I went to visit my grandmother. She’s older, and doesn’t get out a whole lot due to the limited mobility and a total lack of accessibility combined with the Canadian weather. So, whenever we go see her, we try to bring her something. I decided to bring these muffins on Friday.

Growing up, my grandmother always had baked goods around the house, something we never had-shortbreads, bundt cake, meringues,”snail” cake, or, my favourite, coffee cake. So these muffins are a childhood reminisce for me, a reminder of what it is to be little and have afternoon tea with my grandparents.

Pumpkin Coffee Cake Muffins

makes 30-40 muffins, but can be halved

Ingredients

Muffins
3 1/2 cups/440g AP flour
2 tsp baking soda
6 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp salt
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup/200g white sugar
1 cup/200g brown sugar
3 cups pumpkin puree
4 eggs
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups Skor toffee bits

Crumb topping
2 1/4 cups AP flour
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
3 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 1/4 cup melted butter
1/2-3/4 cup skim milk powder

1 cup pumpkin seeds

Cream cheese lemon drizzle
1/2 cup cream cheese
2 tbsp liquid glucose or clear corn syrup
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp lemon extract

1.  Line 3 muffin tins with paper cups, or spray and flour them. Preheat the oven to 425F/218C. This recipe will likely make an extra half dozen of muffins, so you can also prepare an additional tin.
2. Prepare the muffin batter:
   1. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, spices and salt in a large bowl. Seriously, guys, use the biggest bowl you have-I had to change bowls halfway through making these and it was a total pain in the ass.
   2. In a separate(also large) bowl, mix the oil, sugars, pumpkin, milk, vanilla and eggs together. I find it’s easiest to first whisk together the milk, eggs, vanilla and oil, then add the pumpkin, mix to combine, and finally add the sugars last. mix until there are no lumps.
   3. Pour the  wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold them together until there are no streaks. Your arm should hurt after this, as the batter will be quite thick-sorry
   4. Add the toffee bits and fold to incorporate, but do not overmix, or you’ll get a dense chewy muffin
3. Prepare the crumb topping:
   1. Whisk together everything but the butter and milk powder in a bowl until homogenous
   2. Begin to pour in the butter, about 3/4 of it at first, and mix. add more, until you end up with slightly greasy crumbs that vary in size-some will be the size of a large marble, others will just be crumbs. If you want, you can break up the really big chunks
   3. Throw in the milk powder. It will coat the crumbs, but try to incorporate it a littl bit. The chunks will likely begin to break down into smaller pieced. If they do this, you can add some of the remaining melted butter. at the end, coat them iin a little more of the milk powder
4. Spoon the batter into the muffin tins. I like using a 3/4 cup ice cream scoop for this, but spoons work fine as well. If you want to keep it really clean, you can pour the batter into a freezerweight ziplock bag and cut off the corner, then simply squeeze the batter into the tins
5. Divide the crumbs amongst the tops of the muffins. Try to make sure the tops of each are coated, and have some big chunks and some little pieces.
6. Sprinkle the tops with pumpkin seeds
7. Bake at 425F/218C for 4-5 minutes, or until the crumb is browned. Then, turn the oven down to 350F/177C and bake for 20-23 mor minutes. They are done when a toothpick poked into the centre and comes out clean.
8. While the muffins are baking, prepare the drizzle:
   1. Microwave the cream cheese until soft but not hot, 10-15 seconds
   2. Beat with a spatula to make sure it’s smooth, and then add the lemon extract. mix until smooth
   3. Add in the liquid glucose, and mix until smooth
   4. Add in the powdered sugar, and mix until smooth
   5. Check the consistency. it shouldn’t be totally liquid, but if you remove the spatula from the bowl it should drip down. If it’s too liquid, add more powdered sugar. If it’s too thick, add some milk, about 1/4 stp at a time
   6. Test to make sure it tastes good for you. You can add more cream cheese or lemon depending on your taste
9. Remove the muffins from the oven and put on a cooling rack. Let sit for about 10 minutes, and then drizzle the cream cheese over top with a spoon. Let cool the rest of the way
10. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. Give some away, because this makes a lot of muffins.