Good morning coffee-cake muffins!

Hello friends, Happy Fourth! I'm sorry I've been MIA for the last week -- one of my best friends got married on Cape Cod Thursday night, so Mark and I made a vacation of it, visiting his cousins outside Boston for a few days, then driving to the Cape for the wedding festivities. A great time was had by all, including little Dylan, who is a great traveler and was a hit wherever she went!

I promise I will visit all of your blogs in the next few days -- it was nice being away from the Internet for a week, but I have missed checking out all the yummy things you've been creating...

Here we have a lovely batch of coffee cake muffins I made recently when we were invited to my pal Serena's place for brunch. They're rich, buttery, spicy -- everything a coffee cake should be, but in muffin form so you don't have to wait an hour-plus like you would for a whole coffee cake. The recipe comes from a magazine I absolutely love, Cook's Country, slightly tweaked by me.

Enjoy!

One last thing -- speaking of magazines, this vacation marks the end of my glorious maternity leave. I return to work at All You on Monday. Fortunately, I absolutely love my job, and it's a very family friendly environment. So although it's incredibly sad to be leaving my amazing baby girl and I will miss our wonderful days together, I do feel very blessed to have a job and career that is fulfilling to return to. Of course, I will be crying nonstop the entire first week. I'm getting all weepy just writing about it now. So if any of you have words of wisdom for me about being a working mom, finding balance in life, or anything else, I would certainly appreciate it!

OK, on to the muffins...

Coffeecake Muffins
Makes 12

Streusel:
8 Tbsp. sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into pieces and chilled
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Muffins:
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup sour cream, at room temperature
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
5 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into chunks and softened

1. For the streusel: Pulse 5 tablespoons sugar, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and butter in food processor until just combined. Reserve 3/4 cup sugar mixture for cinnamon filling. Add pecans and remaining sugar to food processor with remaining sugar mixture and pulse until nuts are coarsely ground. Transfer to bowl and set aside for streusel topping. Do not wash food processor.

2. For the muffins: Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 375ºF. Lin muffin tin with paper or foil liners. Whisk eggs, sour cream and vanilla in bowl. Pulse flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and butter in food processor until mixture resembles wet sand. Transfer to large bowl. Using rubber spatula, gradually fold in egg mixture until just combined. Place 1 tablespoon batter in each muffin cup and top with 1 tablespoon cinnamon filling. Using back of spoon, press cinnamon filling lightly into batter, then top with remaining batter. Sprinkle streusel topping evenly over batter.

3. Bake until muffins are light golden brown and toothpick inserted into center comes out with a few dry crumbs attached, about 22 to 25 minutes. Cool muffins in tin for 30 minutes, then carefully transfer to rack to cool. (The muffins will keep in airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.)

NOTE: This recipe left me with some extra streusel. I covered it and kept it in the fridge, and we sprinkled it on oatmeal. It would also be good over vanilla ice cream.