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Snickerdoodle-topped doughnut muffins

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These have been sitting in my drafts pile for weeks and I’m honestly flabbergasted. Why? WHY?

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Maybe because they didn’t really fit into my no-sugar eating plan. Even though I made these well before I took that (completely insane?!) vow.

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I’m sure this comes as no great surprise, but every once in awhile, I get struck with intense cravings to break free from whole wheat/oat flour/flaxseed/chia seeds and just bake something unapologetically doughy and immense with all-purpose flour, sugar and normal levels of oil/butter, unadulterated by applesauce or yogurt.

As recently as Saturday night, that craving resulted in these sparkling blueberry muffins from Sally’s Baking Addiction (which I promptly stuffed in my sister’s bag to take far, far away). Weeks ago, the craving culminated in these snickerdoodle-topped doughnut muffins from one of my new favorite blogs, Top With Cinnamon.

Snickerdoodle topped doughnut muffins

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These muffins have the crustiest, crunchiest, sugar-iest top you will EVER find on a muffin. There is literally a cookie that acts as the muffin top to a counterpart that is like a fluffy, lovely cake doughnut. It’s the best idea ever. Could we still be friends if I admit that I’m almost drooling thinking about them? You should make these immediately. Sorry for ruining your diets.

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I’m so close to ruining mine. I can’t even talk about these anymore. This calls for a raw brownie.

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Notes

Changes: although Izy’s muffins looked promising, I went with a doughnut muffin recipe I’ve been dying to try from King Arthur, which uses rather an incredible amount of flour and uses both butter (for taste) and oil (for moisture). I lowered the amounts of fat, sugar and flour just a tad to keep with the slightly lower amount of egg used. And I used 1.5 cups of white whole wheat flour to ¾ cups all-purpose and thought the muffins didn’t suffer at all from a bit more fiber. But you can follow the recipe as written.

Tips: Since this recipe calls for a tiny batch of snickerdoodles, Izy’s recipe uses half of an egg in the muffin batter and half in the cookies. Waste not, want not; I did the same. To get half of a large egg, beat it up in a bowl like you’re making scrambled eggs. Then measure out 1.5 tablespoons to capture half the volume. Voila!

Also, I highly recommend making the snickerdoodles first and refrigerating them while you make the muffin batter, as written below. Otherwise the cookie dough may be warm and difficult to handle when forming disks.

Oh yes, and why the Honey Bunches of Oats? I discovered that cereal boxes make great little trays for gifting baked goods if you cut out a nice flat rectangle from the box and glue up the sides. They’re a little flimsy though, so I wouldn’t use them for anything heavy! #recyclingisthebest

Snickerdoodle-topped Doughnut Muffins
Inspired by Top With Cinnamon with doughnut muffins adapted from King Arthur

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1.5 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoons ground nutmeg, to taste
generous 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups flour
1 cup milk

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 egg
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoons baking powder OR 1/2 tsp cream of tartar + 1/4 tsp baking soda

2 tablespoons sugar, add  cinnamon to taste
2 tablespoons flour

Grease a muffin pan, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine the cinnamon and sugar in a shallow bowl, set aside.

Make the snickerdoodles: Cream together the butter and sugar (you can do this by hand if the butter is room temperature). Stir in the half egg, flour, and baking powder. Refrigerate the dough while you make the muffins.

Make the muffins: Cream together the butter, oil and sugars until smooth. Beat in the remaining eggs. Stir in the baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, salt and vanilla. Add the flour and milk in alternating additions, starting and ending with the flour, until everything is completely combined.

Remove the cookie dough from the fridge and divide into 12 equal balls. Flatten each ball into a disk roughly the width of a muffin tin. Coat in cinnamon sugar. Once finished covering the disks in cinnamon sugar, add 2 tablespoons of flour to the remaining cinnamon-sugar, and use it to dust each cavity of the greased muffin pan.

Divide the batter evenly into the muffin tin, filling each one nearly to the top. Top with a cookie dough disk.

Bake for 5 minutes at 425, then 14-16 minutes at 350.

 

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  1. Erica

    Oh my god, I love Izy’s recipes, and these look amazing. MUST MAKE SOON! I often bring breakfast to my English class on Friday mornings — maybe I’ll make these!

    Reply

  5. Kristi @ My San Francisco Kitchen

    Hahaha your post made me laugh-its the same with me, I get random cravings to make brownies WITHOUT applesauce, with the good stuff (butter!!). Once in a while is ok, right? =) It certainly feels so good! These muffins look gorgeous, and I bet they taste as delicious as they look! Yummmm!

    Reply

    • erika

      Haha thanks Kristi! I’m glad someone understands! It feels so much naughtier when you try to bake/eat healthy most of the time and then suddenly splurge with ridiculous muffins like this! But yes, I agree–once in awhile is definitely okay 🙂

      Reply

  7. girlinafoodfrenzy

    Hi Erika, I love the cut out cereal boxes, they add a definite charm and they look fantastic in your pics. As for a snicker dongle, I’ve never had one, but when you say doughnut style muffin with a crisp, sugary top, my tummy says yes!!! Gorgeous!

    Reply

    • erika

      Kaylie, you are the best! First of all, so sweet 🙂 Thanks for the encouragement, I really need it! And second–I just googled Crazy Sexy Diet and um I really want to read it. It sounded really similar to Skinny B which I read back in the day and that’s actually one of the factors which made me go vegetarian. And then I saw in the Amazon book preview that one of the Skinny B authors had written the foreword! Haha. Thanks for turning me onto it–can’t wait to go get it!

      Reply

  13. Bam's Kitchen

    So that’s how you stay so skinny! You make all these delicious muffins and pass them off to your roomates. I would need to get them completely out of the perimeter of my home as these look addictive.

    Reply

    • erika

      Oh, Bam. If only I was skinny and had the self-control to pass them all off to my roommate + friends. Alas, that is not the case at least 50% of the time. But like you, I do try to get them out of my house when I can or I would totally overindulge!!

      Reply

  14. gottagetbaked

    Cookie topped muffins?! Damn! Why must you tempt me with all these amazing foods?! This is pure genius, lady. I’d probably just eat the tops ‘n chuck the rest. Remember that old Seinfeld episode where they wanted to sell only the muffin tops? Hilarious but true – it IS the best part of the muffin and now you’ve made it even better. And I love the idea of using old cereal boxes for presenting baked goods. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

  16. checy16

    These look so great! I’d love to try them, but I’m trying to decrease my sugar and dessert consumption this year too. Maybe I’ll just bake them for my roommates! Btw, that’s so clever using a cereal box as a tray! I’m always trying to find containers to hold cupcakes or cookies. I will definitely try to make this. 🙂

    Reply

    • erika

      Yes, bake them for your roommates! And just sneak one bite 🙂 Then brush your teeth! Or eat an orange! (my best tips for killing sugar cravings lol).

      And I’m glad! Cereal boxes are just the perfect thickness–not too thick that you can’t fold it, but just sturdy enough to carry a few cookies/muffins 🙂

      Reply

  18. Leah

    Ohhhh, you are evil! This is to die for. I’m pinning this so I can try the recipe post-Paleo.

    I love what you did with the cereal box! So creative. 😉

    Reply

    • erika

      Hahaha I’m sorry. I know, I’m evil to myself too! I want to make these again–like, right now. Let me know what you think if you make them post-Paleo 🙂

      And thanks! I felt like a less-expert version of you, making those boxes 🙂

      Reply

    • erika

      Haha thanks Brandi…do you have vegan snickerdoodles on your site anywhere?? I’ll have to go check this out. I’d love to see your vegan take on them!

      Reply

      • The Healthy Flavor

        Not yet girl but it’s on my list actually!! Hopefully it’ll be on there within a week. I’m so behind on posting all my recipes,,,hard to do with my baby girl 🙂
        I’ll definitely let you know! 🙂

    • erika

      Sally, the muffins were SO good! I loved the crunchy sugar top and we added chocolate chips instead of blueberries to some since that’s my sister’s preference. They were fab! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by, busy girl!

      Reply