Nut Crunch Muffins

After getting to sleep in this morning, I woke up wanting to make something with some crunch to it.  I sat with my cup of coffee looking through recipes.  I had no bananas, no maple syrup, no sour cream, no oranges, no chocolate chips....as you can tell.... I really need to go to the grocery store.   So, I had to be very selective on what I could make.  It was between these muffins and a brown sugar muffin.  But, these ended up winning in the end.

These are really easy for those of you who thought the pepperoni rolls were a bit challenging.  I know you can handle these.  It's pretty simple...just put the ingredients in the bowl and mix.   You have to love that!

Muffin Batter:

Fill a Large Bowl with the following ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt

Get ready:

1 cup buttermilk
 ** If you don't have buttermilk on hand....of course I did not....you can add 1 Tbsp. white vinegar to your milk and let it sit for about 5 minutes **

2/3 cup canola oil

1 tsp vanilla
1 large egg

Add milk, oil, vanilla, and egg to dry ingredients and mix just until combined.  Do not overmix.

Place batter into a greased muffin pan that contains 12 cups and proceed to make topping.  I prefer lighter colored muffin pans as dark ones cook the muffins more rapidly.  You may have to adjust the cooking time if you use a dark muffin pan.

Muffin Topping:

Place in a bowl:

1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbsp chilled butter (unsalted)
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans

Use a pastry blender/cutter to combine the ingredients until all of the butter is evenly combined into a powdery like topping and then spoon onto the muffins.

Bake the muffins at 400 degrees for 10 minutes on a low rack in the oven.

Drop temperature to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 12 minutes.

Allow muffins to cool for at least 5 minutes before removing them from the pan.

Recipe adapted from Great American Home Baking.