Plum Coffee Cake Muffins
Updated May 16, 2019
A co-worker gave me a bag of plums, fresh from the tree! They are so juicy and sweet. I used some of them to make Plum Coffee Cake Muffins. The muffins look plain, but when you take a bite there is a sweet surprise inside! The plums are hiding in the center of the muffin. You put half of the batter in the muffin cups, add the plums, and then the rest of the batter. Sprinkle the muffins with cinnamon and sugar and you are good to go! These are a real breakfast or anytime treat.
Plum Coffee Cake Muffins
Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook
¾ cup + 2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
⅛ tsp ground nutmeg
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
¾ cup milk ( I used skim)
½ cup melted butter, cooled
3-5 ripe plums, depending on their size, pitted and cut into small chunks.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Spray or line 10 muffin cups. Put water in the remaining two cups.
In a large bowl, combine ¾ cup sugar, ½ tsp cinnamon, flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. Set aside.
In another large bowl, whisk together eggs, vanilla, milk, and melted butter. (Make sure the melted butter is cool before you add it.)
Fold the egg mixture into the flour mixture with a rubber spatula. Divide the batter evenly.
Divide one half of the batter evenly among the 10 lined muffin cups.
Add a layer of plum pieces to each.
Divide the remaining half of the batter over the layer of plums.
Combine the remaining 2 tbsp sugar and ½ tsp of cinnamon in a small bowl. Sprinkle over the muffins.
Bake for 15 – 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of one of the muffins comes out clean. Leave to cool in the muffin tin for 5 to 10 minutes before removing from tin and transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
These were great. We got a ton of plums from a friend’s tree, so I’ve made them three times so far.
The first time I followed the recipe exactly, and they were super-yummy but a little too dry on the top and bottom and a little too wet in the center. Plus it felt like too much work for me to spoon in half, then the plums and then the other half of the mix.
The second time, I made two changes – I mixed the plums in, and I replaced half the butter (1/4 cup) with apple sauce. SUPER yummy! But a little too sweet for me (just a little).
The third time I decided to make them mini. It’s a two-bite muffin pan that fits in the toaster oven (although I put it in the regular oven). I used 1/4 organic butter flavored shorting instead of butter, replaced the other 1/4 cup of butter with applesauce again. I also reduced the sugar to just under 2/3 cup (between 1/2 and 2/3 cup). They were amazing again. They took about 12-14 minutes for the two-bite mini muffins, and the recipe made three dozen of those.
I really appreciate how versitile the recipe is, it was fantastic every time.