i don’t want to seem like i’m not humble or anything, but these muffins are good. to quote elliot, “frick,” these are good. frick yes.
i was lying (laying?, i can never remember) in bed the other night, thinking of things i could bake in the following days. yes, i think about food before i go to sleep and pretty much all of the other times of the day. i decided muffins would be good (cake for breakfast!), but there were stipulations: 1) be thrifty, use what we have 2) be universally appealing, most will be going to work 3) be different, something new.
i don’t know if these have been made before in some form or another. so, as far as i know they are my brainchild…brainmuffin? i had a package of graham crackers in the freezer and only a stick and a half of butter in the refrigerator. i could have purchased more butter…because i frickin’ love it with all my heart and soul…but, muffins usually dry out pretty quickly for me. i think it must be the desert that we live in. so, i decided to sub in some veg oil along with the butter. it worked and the muffins were still buttery, because i definitely made sure that there was more butter than oil in the recipe. if i had some nuts around i would have added those to the crumbs, but alas i did not. dang. the crumb is moist and tender, and the flavor is slightly cinnamony with a nice crumbly crunch from the graham-crumb topping.
i think these muffins were pretty frickin’ good. i also think that they would be a nice, kid-friendly muffin, since i work in a preschool and i have noticed that kids consume graham crackers by the pallet-full on a weekly basis.
graham cracker crumb muffins
makes 12 muffins
this recipe is adapted from dorie greenspan…as are many of my baking endeavors.use all butter if you want (8 tbsp), but if your climate is dry this might work nicely for you as well.
preheat oven to 375 F and grease muffin tins, or use paper liners.
crumbly topping:
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 tbsp flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
5 tbsp cold, unsalted butter cut into small pieces
mix all ingredients together in a bowl until combined well and desired crumb size is achieved. i put mine in the freezer while i made the muffin batter and broke it up again when i was ready to use it. this made for a nice, chunky crumb texture.
muffins:
1 1/2 cups + 2 tbsps flour
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
5 tbsp butter (melted and cooled)
3 tbsp vegetable oil
2 large eggs
3/4 cup whole milk
1/4 tsp vanilla
combine flour, graham crumbs, sugars, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a bowl–whisk making sure that there are no brown sugar lumps.
in another bowl whisk milk, melted/cooled butter, oil, eggs and vanilla. pour wet mixture over dry and combine–stirring gently with a whisk or spatula until just combine. lumps are okay! divide evenly into muffin tins and top with graham crumb mixture. bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. allow to cool for at least 5 mins so you don’t burn your mouth and hands. enjoy!
Lo
Those are some smart frickin’ brain muffins 🙂
Seriously — really good idea. And a good way to use up leftover graham crackers.
Aran
hmmm… cinamony muffins… my favorite!
pastry studio
I grew up on graham crackers and still adore them. Thank you for putting your brain on this! I look forward to baking them.
Deborah
What a great idea! And I have some graham crackers left from camping!
Kevin
Those muffins look good and the graham cracker crumb sounds great. Cake, er, muffins for breakfast are always welcome! 🙂
Bonbon Oiseau
you are pretty frickin’ funny. and yeah, these look really frickin’ good.
when are you fricken going to send me some?
Fifi Flowers
YUM!!!!!!!!!!!! Putting this recipe in favorites!
mr.sound and mrs.sound
lol… if you were lying thinking what kind of food you would prepare. I’m lying thinking what food to eat.:)
http://www.foodista.com/2008/06/23/perfect-tart-crust/
amandalouden
Yum! Those look great.
(it’s lying)
cindy*
<3’s! (hearts in geek-speak) to everyone! thanks!
jo
mmmmmm!!!!!