When you have leftover coffee, why not turn it into some chocolately streusel muffins?!? These muffins are dangerous to have around your kitchen. 🙂
OH MY MUFFIN GOODNESS! These are fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. And I owe them all to a book. Not any old book though, one of my new favorite books–A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. This month for a #BookClubCookBookCC, our hostess was Emily at Life On Food. She asked us to make a recipe inspired by this wonderful classic, and suggested chocolate russe, a cake that the book’s main character, Francie, idealized as a dessert of the rich, only visible to her in the fancy bakery windows, never in her [poor] home where all the dessert she got was stale pie and sugar buns. Well, chocolate russe sounds delicious and all, but I’ve reached a point of lazy cooking and baking these days so muffins it is!
I promise you this–even though these muffins aren’t the recipe for the month, or even something mentioned in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, they are definitely inspired by the book. If you haven’t read this classic, you should. It’s one of those that I never read as a kid or in school, but read as an adult a few summers ago [I actually listened to the audiobook]. The book takes you through Francie’s life, from early chidhood to college. It is truly a coming of age story that captures a poor family in Brooklyn in the pre-war era. It is lovely and full of wonderful character descriptions. Since her family is so poor, food is a large part of their daily existence and coffee is their daily luxury–even the kids! The vivid descriptions of how the kids would be served as much “hot strong coffee” as they liked, with a pre-determined amount of sweetened condensed milk [to stir in or spread on toast] was crazy to me. As a kid, I didn’t like coffee at all! My dad prefers instant [gross] and my sister and I were talking recently about how he used to pay us a quarter to try his coffee. Haha! Unsurprisingly, Francie and her brother Neeley didn’t like the coffee either but still take a cup as their luxury and to be a little more grown-up. So, muffins. Coffee as a nod to Francie and Neeley [my favorite character!] and chocolate chips for the chocolate russe. And because chocolate is yummy. 🙂 If you can’t tell, I ADORE this book and am so glad I got to make a recipe inspired by it!
If you love coffee and chocolate, these muffins are for you! The coffee flavor is mellow but unmistakable. They’re perfect with a glass of cold milk or a cup of coffee… but it’s the streusel that wins the award! Since I made the streusel with melted butter, almonds, and oats, you really have press it onto the batter… but it bakes up nice and crispy creating a fantastic crunchy texture. Yum! I can’t get enough of these muffins. Hope you love ’em too! Thanks for hosting this month, Emily!
P.S. Scroll down for the giveaway, running through the end of the month!
one year ago: Mujaddara: Mediterranean Lentils and Rice with Carrot Slaw
two years ago: Apple Rubies in Coconut Milk
three years ago: Double Blueberry Walnut Muffins
four years ago: Quinoa Pancakes
five years ago: Lemon Blueberry Bread
Coffee Chocolate Chip Streusel Muffins
slightly adapted [mainly the streusel] from Bakerita
Ingredients:
for muffins
- 1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour [or all purpose]
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1/2 cup strong brewed coffee, chilled or at room temperature
- 1/3 cup canola oil
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup chocolate chips
for streusel
- 1/4 cup white whole wheat flour [or all purpose]
- 1/4 cup old fashioned oats
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons sliced and toasted almonds
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
- 1 tablespoon strong brewed coffee, chilled or at room temperature
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line muffin tins with paper liners or grease cups with cooking spray.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugars, baking powder, and baking soda. In a small bowl, whisk together egg, coffee, oil, and vanilla. Fold wet ingredients into the dry, mixing until just incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips. Batter will be thick.
Divide batter between muffin cups, filling about 3/4 of the way full. I use silicone baking cups and got 14.
In a small bowl, stir together flour, oats, brown sugar, and almonds with a fork. Pour in butter and mix to form crumbs. Streusel will be thick. Spread about 1/2 tablespoon on top of each muffin.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until tops turn golden brown and streusel starts to caramelize. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean. Serve warm! Muffins also freeze well.
Giveaway
This month Emily at
Life on Food, this month’s host, is giving away a copy of the book.* Enter to win a copy of the cookbook so you can join us in future months, if you wish!
One of our lucky readers – US and Canada only! – can enter to win a copy of
The Book Club Cookbook, Revised Edition: Recipes and Food for Thought from Your Book Club’s Favorite Books and Authors by Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp, courtesy of
Tarcher-Penguin. Giveaway runs from March 1st till March 31st at 6 o’clock PM, Pacific time. Please see terms and conditions in the rafflecopter widget below. Many thanks to Tarcher Books. You may find Tarcher: on the
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*Disclosure: Emily received a complimentary copy of The Book Club Cookbook, Revised Edition: Recipes and Food for Thought from Your Book Club’s Favorite Books and Authors by Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp as an opportunity to give a copy away. Opinions are our own. We received no further compensation for our posts.
These buffalo chicken lettuce wraps certainly hit the spot! They were the perfect blend of spicy, creamy, cheesy, and cool. We enjoyed them during Selection Sunday last week [go Hoosiers!], but they’d be equally good during any sporting event, party, or get together. To be honest, buffalo chicken isn’t always my favorite–some versions are too spicy, and most versions are too messy–but this recipe may make me a diehard fan. 🙂 If you like buffalo chicken, you’ll love this recipe!
The Pajama Chef 