Over-The-Top Lemon Muffins with Streusel topping

My son Jonathan loves streusel, anything I bake he says "...and put streusel on it!" And how about a lemon drizzle too?! OK, and lots of them, enough to share with friends at school. So my Sunday afternoon was spent in mass production and I'm pretty pleased with the result. I married a Lemon Muffin with Lemon Curd hidden in the inside with Jonathan's favorite streusel (from a New York Style Coffee cake, which I revised to make healthier with canola oil- instead of sticks of butter). Topping off this oh-so-not simple muffin I drizzled it with a lemon flavored paste. So the end result brought lots of: Yummmms and today he's gone off to school with a few in his belly and a bag full to share.

The original Lemon Muffin is for 12 muffins (Lemon Curd Muffins). Remember for High Altitude decrease the Baking powder to 1 1/2 tsp. and the sugar decrease by a Tbl.

Lemon Curd Muffins- Adapted Better Homes and Gardens recipe

Ingredients

• 1 1/2
  cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2
  cup sugar
• 1/4
  cup whole wheat flour
• 2
  tsps baking powder
•                  1/4 tsp salt
• 1
  egg
• 3/4
  cup milk
• 1/4
  cup cooking oil
• 2/3
  cup purchased lemon curd
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Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degree F. Grease six muffin pan and line with paper bake cups; set aside. Stir together the all-purpose flour, sugar, whole wheat flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients; set aside.
2. Combine the egg, milk, and oil in a small mixing bowl. Add egg mixture all at once to dry ingredients. Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy).
3. Spoon half of the batter into prepared muffin pan (two rounded tablespoons in each popover pan). Spoon two rounded teaspoons of the lemon curd on top of the batter in each pan. (There will be some remaining lemon curd for topping). Spoon remaining batter into muffin pan filling each pan two-thirds full.
4. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in muffin pans on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove from pans. Top with remaining lemon curd . Serve warm or cool. Makes 6 muffins.
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The Streusel Topping:  New York Style Crumb Cake/3 cp 

1/3 cp brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
8 Tbls. Canola Oil
1 3/4 cp flour

Mix together, and pinch small balls on top of uncooked muffin, a good thick coating, then lightly press down.

After they are baked, while still warm, drizzle on some more flavor with:

1 cp of Confectioner sugar
1 Tbl. of lemon juice

and add a bit of water to make a drizzly paste

Bread Machine Sourdough Pumpernickel Bread

I have made this bread for a couple of years, but we moved and I depended on my old recipe, which is now somewhere in the cellar stored. So back to the drawing board. Last week I tried it and it was OK, but I had soaked the wheat in the sourdough first to improve the health properties of the bread (soaked wheat digests better). But it was a bit bitter, and I thought not worth the effort. Today I'm going to try and double the SD Starter. I always start with a very good online recipe by All-recipes Allrecipes Pumpernickel Recipe and add sourdough. So I usually decrease ingredients to accommodate the SD, but with a new Breville Bread machine which bakes up to 2 1/2 lbs. loafs I have plenty of room. This is about a 2 lbs. loaf w/o Sourdough.
Adapted Recipe from Allrecipes:

In order of ingredients added to bread pan for bread machine:

1 cp warm water (watch kneading cycle to see if more water needs to be added because of high altitude and/or dryer climes)
2 Tbls vegetable oil
1/3 cp molasses
3 Tbls. cocoa
1 Tbls  caraway seed
1 1/2  tsp salt
1 1/2 cps bread flour
1 cp rye flour
1 cp whole wheat flour
2 Tbls vital wheat gluten
2 1/2 tsp bread machine yeast (for high altitude decrease by 1/2 tsp.

Directions:

1. To make this a Sourdough Pumpernickel Bread first add 1 cp Sourdough starter to the bread machine pan with the water (I decreased the water by an 1/8 cp. and I'll check when it's kneading if it needs more water, or more flour, last time I baked it I added about 1/2 cp flour Bread Flour, I'm at High Altitude where it's also dry so this can vary by area).
2. Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. I usually select a light crust setting because the Pumpernickel can easily burn on the outside & taste strong. Use a Whole Wheat Bread setting (it's a bit longer a cooking cycle).

Creating A Healthier Coffee Cake

My son loves New York Style Crumb Cake with that thick Crumb topping. He's a 6 ft. 17 yr. old who likes a morning coffee cake to run off with and this one not only tastes great but it doesn't smush easily in the backpack (so he says). His favorite New York Coffee Cake  is great, but leaves Mom with a guilt trip- that I might be contributing to a heart attack when he's an old man. So making it healthier is always my goal and hopefully in ways that don't scream- Health Food- which my kids run from! The original  New York Style Coffee Cake is at Brandys Baking and it's great.

A Healthier version of the Coffee Cake:

The Large Version of the cake (3X the original recipe)

6 eggs

1 Tbls. Vanilla

1 cp Buttermilk

1 cp & 2 Tbls. Canola oil

4 cps flour- (I like to use 2 cps White Whole Wheat flour by King Arthur's and 2 cps. All Purpose flour)

1 1/2 cps. sugar (High Altitude  1 1/4 cps. sugar)

3/4 tsp. Baking Soda (HA < 3/4 tsp)

3/4 tsp salt 

Whisk the eggs and add the rest of the liquids, whisk a bit more. Using another bowl whisk the dry together and then add to the liquid, mix well.

The original topping is very good, so hopefully this will work with Canola Oil. 

Streusel Topping :

4 Cups All Purpose Flour

2 Cups Brown Sugar (packed)

1/4 cup white Sugar

1 Tbl. Cinnamon

3/4 tsp. Salt 

6 Tbls. Chilled Butter

1 cup Canola Oil

Put the dry ingredients in a food processor and pulse until just mixed. Then add the butter and pulse till incorporated. Pour the mixture into a bowl and using a fork mix the oil until crumbly and able to hold together if squeezed. Add more oil if necessary by the Tbls.

Place cake ingredients in a greased 14 x 10 pan. 
Crumble topping on top, pinching together the topping to form large lumps and gentle press down and bake till a toothpick comes out clean, about 50 mins or longer. Watch carefully and check every 5 mins for doneness after 50 mins.

I found with 2 large guys- my husband & son and a smaller 11 yr. old daughter (who can pack it away) that it lasted almost all week. Enjoy :)

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