Magnolia Mae's Black Current Streusal Muffins

I love the fall! This weather makes me feel so alive and well and I'm a firm believe that good ole fresh air can really do a body good. Today I stumbled across a jar of  black current preserves that I picked up at Black Horse Farms in upstate New York. We we spending a weekend at my brother's house in New Baltimore when we stumbled across this farmer's market. The place had so many wonderful offering all fresh and organic. Of course being that it was the end of the summer they were well stocked up on preserves so I picked this one up. What a score!Not only was it fantastic on toast but it made a fantastic filled for the muffins below.

My office peeps had the luxury of gobbling these morsels up!

Black Current Streusel Muffins:
Software:

1 Jar of your Favorite Preserve or frozen berries
1 cup milk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated white sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
1/2 tablespoon grated lemon zest you can also use Orange I did =)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Hardware:
Cupcake Baking Tin 16-18 count
Cupcake Wax papers
Mixing bowls
Hand Mixer or a good whisk
Pastry Blender


The first thing you want to do is warm the house... I mean oven. You might as well warm the house too while you're at it. The nice thing about baking on a nice cold crisp Autumn day is that when you get your oven going the house warms up a few degrees and the air is intoxicating with flavor. Forget the Oxygen bar I'd be up for flavored air. That's a hell of a way to get amped.

Get your oven to about 359 degrees F for about a good 30 minutes as you prepare the ingredients. You're going to want the oven rack in the middle so it can get evenly heated from top to bottom.

Whip out your16-18 muffin tins, spray with non stick oil and place cupcake papers in them.

For the wet team mix together the milk, eggs, and vanilla extract. Remember in baking measuring is crucial so take care to top of each measuring cup before mixing it into the bowl.

Now onto the dry team. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl  then cut the butter into small pieces and blend into the flour mixture with a pastry blend. It should start coming together like wet sand.

Set aside one cup of the mixture into a separate bowl to make the streusel topping. As for the remaining muffin batter, gently fold in the blueberries and Orange/Lemon zest. Add the milk and egg mixture to the flour mixture gently incorporate the increments do not whisk or mix too much as it will create a dry hard muffin.

Fill each muffin cup with the batter, using a tablespoon measuring spoon or a mini ice cream scooper.  Be sure not to spill the batter over the lining onto the tin.

Now with a spoon give each muffin a spoonful of the preserves or frozen berries. Be sure to try and place each spoonful into the center of each muffin.

Now onto the final  streusel topping: Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter and drizzle over the reserved 1 one cup of streusel topping. Mix together with a fork until it is crumbly and looks like wet sand.

Sprinkle a couple of teaspoons of the streusel over the top of each muffin with your hands.

 Place in the oven and bake until very lightly blonde and firm,  a toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean, about 18 - 22 minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool.

Enjoy your muffins its a great way to make sure of the summer preserves you've got in the fridge.

If Wolverine were a baker he'd bake a Streusal Cake.

If Wolverine was a baker he'd have one of these funky kitchen gadgets attached to his Adamantium skeleton, a pastry blender. It cuts butter and other fats into the dough and sugar. It's so cool it allows you to mix your ingredients without warming up the chilled butter in with your body heat. One of the key things about making flaky types of dough is using a very cold fat like butter and the necessity to mix it often comes at a price with body heat melting the butter and all hopes of a flaky crust.

That's where these bad boys comes in, they sorta look like miniature rib racks attached to a handle. Don't knock them they will do miraculous things with biscuit dough and case streusal.

As the first few weeks of Fall set in there's nothing that's more seasonal in New York/Jersey other than Apple picking. Some of our favorite haunts are Masker and Terhune. This year we went back to Masker and picked us up a stuffed back of Jonas Golds and Macs. Not without a nice nap under an apple tree of course with my two ladies. It was a wonderful and only part of the fun as the upcoming weeks allow me to think of what wonderful confection to cook up with the Fall Jewels that are freshly picked.

Inspired by a Facebook post from the Joy of Baking this especially delicious cake was a first for me but a wonderful first and I think my colleagues can attest since they gobbled it all up like Fall gnomes the next day.

Here's what you'll need...

Streusel Software:

1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup toasted and coarsely chopped Macadamia Nuts

Cake Software:
1 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon
pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup milk
2 large Granny Smith Apples or any tart firm Apple, peeled, cored, and cut into thin (1/8 inch) slices

Hardware:
8 Inch Spring Form Pan
1 Sheet of Parchment Paper
Pastry blender
Mixing Bowls
Offset Spatula
Stand Mixer

Kick off by preheating your oven to 350 degrees F. Since it will take a good 20 minutes to get your ingredients together you might get the oven nice and toasty in preparation. Butter an 8 inch spring form pan and line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper. Just in case you were wondering the difference between Parchment paper and wax paper is that parchment using a thin coat of silicone versus Wax paper. I think you can use them box pretty interchangeably but parchment holds up better in my opinon.

Streusel Topping: In a large bowl, mix together the flour and ground cinnamon. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or fork until it resembles coarse crumbs now work with purpose here since you really don't want the butter to begin to melt. Stir in the brown sugar and chopped macadamia. Set aside in the fridge while you make the cake batter.

Cake Batter: In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until creamy and smooth (I can hear a "that's what she said joke" coming on). Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat just until mixed anymore than that will cause your cake to be dry and tough. Add the flour mixture, alternately with the milk, and beat only until combined. Word of advice slow down or stop the paddle when you mix or else you will be wearing a fair amount of the dry ingredients on you. Spread the batter into the bottom of the prepared pan, smoothing the top with an offset spatula.

Evenly arrange the apple slices on top of the cake batter and then sprinkle with the streusel topping.

Bake for about 45 - 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool slightly.