Cocoa Nib Streusel Muffins

Remember when I made Carrot Muffins?  Remember how I totally screwed up the streusel topping and made way too much of it?  Here's my attempt to use it up along with some other stuff lying around.

Honestly, the last thing I needed was to make more stuff that I need to get rid of it.  I'm really starting to feel the pressure of finishing this cookbook and getting rid of all this food before we move.  I keep opening and closing the cupboards and flipping through my cookbook fretting.  And please don't get me started about the stress I feel when I see all the bread in my freezer.

Enough about the development of my first ulcer.

The base of them is a buttermilk muffin recipe from Williams Sonoma that is flavored with Apple Pie Spice.  The original recipe calls for cinnamon which would be totally fine here too, I just happen to have received a free sample jar of Penzey's Apple Pie Spice so I decided to use it.  You could sub Pumpkin Pie Spice too.

I just consulted the Internet as to what the difference is between Apple Pie Spice and Pumpkin Pie Spice is and the results are inconclusive.

The muffin batter in these is layered with a mixture of the streusel and cocoa nibs.  Cocoa nibs are the raw inside of the cocoa bean - if you ground them you'd get cocoa paste and if you mixed that with cocoa butter and sugar you'd have chocolate.  If you taste a cocoa nib you'd definitely know it was related to chocolate but it is a little bit bitter and almost a little nutty.  They're crunchy too which adds some great texture to the muffin.

These little guys were pretty interesting.  They're not super sweet but have the warm flavors of the apple pie spice and a hint of cocoa from the nibs.  The muffin itself is tender with a little bit of tang from the buttermilk.

Cooca Nib Struesel Muffins
Ingredients
7 T Butter, softened
2/3 cup Sugar
1 Egg
1 1/2 cup Flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Apple Pie Spice (or Pumpkin Pie Spice)
1/2 cup Buttermilk
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 cup Streusel (see below)
1/2 cup Cocoa Nibs

Instructions
Preheat an oven to 350°F.  Spray a 12 cup muffin tin with non-stick spray.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment combine the butter and sugar and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.. Add the egg and mix on low speed until just combined.

In another bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. Add to the butter mixture in 2 additions, alternating with the buttermilk and vanilla. Mix on low speed just until evenly moistened. The batter will be slightly lumpy.

In a small bowl, combine the streusel and cocoa nibs.

Spoon the half of the batter into the prepared muffin cups.  Sprinkle 1 T of the streusel/cocoa nib mixture into each cup.  Spoon the remaining batter into the muffin cups and top with the remaining streusel.

Bake until the muffins are golden, a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes before removing from the pan..

For the Streusel
1/3 cup Flour
1/3 cup Oatmeal
4 T cold Butter, cut into small pieces
2 T Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp Cinnamon

Mix all the ingredients in a small bowl with a pastry blender or a fork until uniform and crumbly.

Enjoy!
Julie