Do you know the Muffin Man?

Man did my house smell like the holidays this weekend.  I don’t think it’d be hard for you to believe that I love cooking and baking during the holidays.  Sunday morning I decided to pull down a cook book and see what I could make with the ingredients I had on hand.  Turns out I have everything I needed to make Gingerbread Streusel Raisin Muffins. 

 

I got this out of a cookbook my sister left at my house; I told her if she hadn’t claimed it in 6 months I was keeping it.  I’ve been making goodies out of this book for nearly 3 years now.  I found a copy of this recipe on line if you like a printer friendly version, here’s what you’ll need.

Muffins

1 cup raisins
1/2 cup boiling water
1/3 cup margarine or butter, softened
3/4 cup Molasses
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt

Topping

1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup chopped nuts
3 tablespoons margarine or butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375°F. In small bowl, cover raisins with boiling water; let stand 5 minutes. I had a bag of golden raisins in the pantry so that is what I used for this recipe. I measured all my ingredients before I got started.  

In large bowl, beat 1/3 cup margarine and molasses until fluffy.  I absolutely pulled out the Kitchen Aid for this and attached the paddle with the scraper on the side. I can’t praise this attachment enough it makes everything so much faster and easier.  Add egg; beat well.

 

I added the dry ingredients after beating in the egg. It says to blend just until dry ingredients are moistened.

 

Next I poured in the raisins with the water and mixed ever slow slowly so as not to make a big mess. This is what it looked like after all was said and done.

 

I mixed up the topping before ever getting started, but I have to show you the handy tool for that process.  It calls of ¼ cup of chopped nuts.  This is the South so I pulled out some pecan halves, and popped a handful in my PC food chopper. 

Then I place the bottom piece and gave it a few good whacks with the palm of my hand. I popped off the bottom and dumped the pecans right into the bowl.

Next I filled the muffin tin ¾ full using my PC Medium Scoop. I know it is a lot handy dandy tools, I'm someone who likes to be in the kitchen and is always looking for ways to make the job more efficient and fun.  If you don’t have a scoop the two spoon method works great for this mix. 

I topped with the streusel topping and put them in oven and baked for 20 to 25 minutes.

 

 

These were really good I enjoyed them quite a bit.  The boys in my house were another story.  They liked the flavor of the muffins but neither of them cared for the raisins.  My oldest ate a bowl of raisins while I mixed, but when it came to eating them baked in the muffin he gave it a big thumbs down. So next time I will add the warm water until I get the right consistency, but leave out the raisins. 

Also I found that there was too much topping and I wasted quite a bit, next time I will likely cut that in half.  Lastly, I will add more melted butter to the topping, it had a great flavor but the texture and appearance were too dry for my taste.  On the whole it was a success.  I even found some friends who share my taste to take some of these off my hands.  Give these a try if you are feeling adventurous and remember recipes are the jumping off place, don’t be afraid to experiment and make it your own.