Cinnamon crunch recipe:
1/3 c. sugar
1 1/2 Tablespoons cinnamon
1 Tablespoon shortening
1 Tablespoon corn syrup or honey (I used honey because I didn’t have corn syrup)
Preheat oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Cover a jelly roll pan with a sheet of parchment paper, and spray lightly with PAM. Mix the top four ingredients together (with a tiny pinch of salt if desired) and pat down into a 1/4” tall square on the baking sheet. Bake for 25 minutes—it shouldn’t be too crisp. Allow to cool, then break into chunks.
(Note: when baking muffins--or really anything besides scones or biscuits--all of the ingredients must be at room temperature! It makes a big difference. To get eggs at room temperature, leave them out for half an hour on the countertop, or put them in a bowl of warm water.)
Muffins:
Makes about 1 dozen regular muffins, or 6 jumbo muffins (better!:))
Preheat oven to 400 degree F.
Sift together:
1 3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour (7.88 oz.)
3/4 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup sugar (1.8 oz)
2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder
Beat in a separate bowl:
2 large eggs (or 3 small eggs), at room temperature
Add to the eggs:
4 tablespoons (1/4 c) melted butter
3/4 cup milk, at room temperature
Optional:
1 cup add-ins, like blueberries, chocolate chips, cinnamon chips, etc.
Mix in a few swift stroke the beaten liquid ingredients to the combined sifted dry ones, then fold in the cinnamon chips or any other mix-ins. The mixing is held to an absolute minimum, a light stirring of from 10 to 20 seconds, which will leave some lumps. Ignore them. The dough should not be mixed to the point of pouring, ribbon-like from the spoon, but should break in course globs. If the batter has been beaten too long, the gluten in the flour will develop and toughen the dough; and the grain of the muffin will be course and full of tunnels.
Good muffins should be straight sided and rounded on the top....The grain of the muffin is not fine but uniform and the crumb moist.
To bake, fill well-greased tins about two-thirds full. Should the dough not fill every muffin cup, put a few tablespoons of water in the empty forms, both to protect the pans and to keep the rest of the muffins moist, unless a different indication is given in the individual recipe.
Bake at once in a preheated 400 degree F oven 20to 25 minutes. Do not over-bake. If you are using smaller muffin tins, bake only for 15 minutes.
If muffins remain in tins a few moments after leaving the oven, they will be easier to remove. They are really best eaten promptly. If you must reheat them, enclose them loosely in foil and heat about 5 minutes in a preheated 450 degree F oven.
For Bread:
Bake in a 1.5 quart loaf pan at 350 for 40 minutes, checking fifteen minutes before the time given.
