Lemon Berry Babycakes with Cinnamon-Nut Streusel

45 CommentsMonday • February 18, 2008 • by Ari

Muffins! Babycakes! Muffins! Babycakes! This is how my husband and I debated the name of the toothsome morsels featured in this post. “Are they a quick bread? Are they baked in muffin tins?” he asked with far more passion than I felt the discussion merited, and when I answered in the affirmative he gleefully said, “Ha! They’re muffins! I win.” You see what happens when guys start watching Alton Brown?

I admit that technically the hubby’s right. These ARE muffins. But such scrumptious not-for-every-day treats deserve a special name and babycakes seems particularly fitting. Filled with strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries then topped with a cinnamon-walnut streusel, these muffins redefined the way cornmeal is perceived in my kitchen. That’s right, cornmeal, and if it sounds out of place in anything except corn muffins trust me, it’s not. Next time I mix-up a batch of this ‘babycake’ batter I plan to bake it in a cake pan, then serve it warm, sprinkled with a little confectioners’ sugar, and with a side of vanilla ice cream. Mmmm…

So it’s been a month since I last posted and let me just say thanks to everyone who emailed me with questions like “Where the heck are you?” and “Do we need to stage an intervention?” To messages like this I can only respond: how much do you rock, noticing that I hadn’t posted and taking the time to email me? Hugs all around! But to set the record straight nothing was wrong and I certainly have not given up blogging. (Heaven forbid!) I just needed an impromptu hiatus to sort out the Fall semester, what with its classes and my teaching gigs and my awesome new job as the NY Cluster Coordinator for Rosh Hodesh: It’s a Girl Thing!. Very exciting stuff. And hey, I did redesign the site between the last post and this one, so I haven’t been totally MIA. Check out the sidebar for new features on Baking and Books, like a link to my ‘Old Posts’ archive, Twitter, and evidence of my new Nike+ obsession. I know I’ve only logged two runs so the extent of my Nike love isn’t readily apparent yet, but that’s just because the weather has been conspiring against me. Please God let it be sunny on Wednesday! I don’t think Oreo will forgive me if I promise to take her jogging again then chicken out because it’s raining.

That’s it for now but expect many new posts soon… until then!

Crumble-Bumble Lemon Blueberry Babycakes
Reprinted with permission from The Cornbread Gospels by Crescent Dragonwagon
Ingredients: Makes 12 babycakes

• Vegetable oil cooking spray
• 1/3 cup butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar, preferably unrefined
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Finely grated zest of 1 to 2 lemons, preferably organic
• 1 1/4 cups unbleached white flour
• 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/4 cup stone-ground yellow cornmeal
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup milk (Crescent uses vanilla soy milk, I used 1% milk)
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups fresh blueberres (since berries aren’t in season I used 1 1/2 cups of frozen mixed berries – strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries)
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted or not (I omitted these because I only had enough for the streusel, but if I had used them I would have toasted them.)
• Rich Cinnamon-Nut Crumble-Bumble Streusel (recipe below)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with oil or line the cups with papers. In either case, be sure to spray the top surface of the muffin tin.

Cream the butter and sugar in a medium bowl until thoroughly incorporated, then beat in the eggs, one at a time. Add the vanilla and lemon zest.

Stir together the flours, cornmeal, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl (you may sift these if you want an even lighter muffin). Set aside.

Stir the creamed mixture into the flour mixture, alternating with the milk. Don’t overbeat. The moment the mixtures are mostly combined, stir in the berries and nuts with a few quick strokes. Fill the muffin cups, this amount of batter will make them fuller than usual. If you like, sprinkle them with the streusel.

Bake until the kitchen is fragrant and the edges and tops of the muffins are golden brown and a little crunchy looking, about 25 minutes. Let cool just a few minutes, then remove from the pan. Serve warm.

Rich Cinnamon-Nut Crumble-Bumble Streusel
Reprinted with permission from The Cornbread Gospels by Crescent Dragonwagon
Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons cold butter, finely diced
• 3 tablespoons sugar, preferably unrefined
• 1 tablespoon unbleached white flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup untoasted walnut pieces

Using your fingers, combine the butter, sugar, flour and cinnamon in a bowl until crumbly. Toss in the walnuts. Divide this mixture among the unbaked muffins, sprinkling it evenly over their tops. Bake as directed.