Small Batch Baking: Pecan Raisin Muffins

Joe has been very sick with the flu and hasn't had much of an appetite, so I thought I'd make some muffins for him to have as breakfast or snacks to perhaps entice him to eat a bit more. These muffins, from my Small Batch Baking cookbook, were actually meant to be Cranberry Walnut Muffins but they sort of accidentally evolved into Pecan Raisin. For some reason I had in my head that Joe does not like cranberries (he informed me after I made the muffins that he does, in fact, like them) so I put in raisins instead. But I had every intention of using walnut, but after I dumped the nuts into the batter I realized I had grabbed the pecans instead. Oh well. I created a new muffin - and these are very good! Nice and dense and the crunchy cinnamon-sugar topping gives them the perfect sweetnes. I doubled the recipe to get six muffins.

Pecan Raisin Muffins

Unsalted butter at room temperature, for greasing the muffin cups
½ cup all purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground cardamom or cinnamon
Yolk of 1 medium egg
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons whole milk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¼ cup fresh or frozen cranberries (I used raisins)
3 tablespoons chopped walnuts (I used pecans)

For the topping:
¾ teaspoon sugar
Pinch of ground cardamom or cinnamon

Place rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350. Lightly grease the bottoms of 3 muffins cups, then rub a little butter around the rim of each cup (this will help the muffins form a more rounded top).
Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and cardamom in a large bowl. Place the egg yolk, sugar, milk, oil and vanilla in a medium-sized bowl and whisk to blend. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and stir until dry ingredients are just moistened. Gently stir in the cranberries and walnuts.
Spoon the batter into the three prepared muffins cups, dividing evenly.
Make the topping – combine the sugar and cardamom in a small bowl.
Sprinkle the topping evenly over the muffins. Fill the empty muffin cups halfway with water to prevent scorching.
Bake the muffins about 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool muffins in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes 3 muffins.