We’re heading into the last part of the year. The chilly part. The bake-all-day-to-keep-your-house-warm part. I love it. Each month, I make a list of foods I want to eat to set the mood for the month. Sometimes, the list has exact foods, like Chai Cookie Bars. Other times, I write a general feeling that I want my meals to have, like ‘hearty and comforting.’ And then, I often consider your lovely self, and what foods you would like to eat this month, too. For the month of December, I wrote: comfort food, cookies, and sweet breakfasts to share. Does that seem right to you? Are those the things you’d like to stuff in your face, too? While it’s a sunny 55-degrees where I live right now, I think we all need warm, cozy dinners, cookies for dessert, and something sweet to lure us out of bed in the mornings.
A how-to video for making sour cream coffee cake muffins:
(Sometimes the video jumps to the side of the page, so check there if you don’t see it). You can use fresh blueberries like I did in the video, or any other fresh berries you like here. I use blueberries in the summer and cranberries in the fall, naturally.
We’re starting here with sweet breakfasts to share. These cranberry streusel muffins made with sour cream were first on my list. A few years ago, I made rhubarb cinnamon muffins from a Fine Cooking Magazine, and my eyes were opened to how lovely tangy fruit pairs with warm cinnamon. I love sweet and sour rhubarb, but I loved it even more when it was sprinkled with cinnamon. While we are months away from my beloved rhubarb (and my revered Rhubarb Crisp), we have cranberries! I stirred cranberries into my sour cream coffee cake muffin batter, amped up the streusel topping (or is it called crumb topping?), and plopped it in muffin cups. The recipe makes 5 muffins. Two for me, two for you, and one for the dog, perhaps? That’s the way it goes in my house.
The muffin pan I typically is vintage, and I love it because it only has 6 cups! But, if you’re lacking your grandmother’s vintage small muffin pan like me, here’s a great substitute! Also, you may substitute full-fat Greek yogurt for the sour cream, if you prefer.
