Cinnamon Sugar Scuffins
It's been a while since the last time I did some creating in the kitchen, and man am I glad to be back! It's been about a month since my last post, and in that month I also happened to be out of the country for two weeks. I had some incredible adventures, but I'm so happy to be back home and baking again!
I'll get right to it: a scuffin is a somewhere between a scone and a muffin. I first heard the term from Valerie Bertinelli on her cooking show, and I loved the idea at first sight. It was just a matter of time before I gave it a try myself!
To make these scuffins, I just made some changes to the recipe I posted back in July for Cherry-Peach Scones. Instead of cherry and peach, I added cinnamon and some applesauce, so really these scuffins are just muffin-shaped scones ("scuffin" is way more catchy, though). They're not as sweet as a muffin, but denser in texture.
I decided to be a little extra with these – this is the first baking I've done in a long time! – and appropriate an element of french breakfast puffs. These went for a dunk in some melted butter and then a cinnamon sugar mix to top them off. This decidedly makes them more of a dessert, but I still say they're fair game for any meal of the day!
CINNAMON SUGAR SCUFFINS
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Bake Time: 15 minutes
Makes 12 scuffins
Ingredients
2¾ cups flour 2 t cinnamon
1 T baking powder 8 T salted butter, cold/frozen ½ cup sugar ½ cup + 2 T milk
½ t vanilla
½ cup cinnamon applesauce
Topping:
2 T butter
½ c cinnamon sugar mixture (½ cup sugar, 2 t cinnamon)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400F. Prepare a board with flour, and lightly grease a 12-cup muffin tin. Grate your cold or frozen butter to ensure it's in small pieces, which will make it easier to incorporate into the dry ingredients.
In a large bowl, mix the flour, cinnamon, and baking powder (note: that's a tablespoon of baking powder, not a teaspoon!). Then add the grated butter, and stir until the mixture is combined. Stir in the sugar, milk, vanilla, and applesauce, mixing until the dough is as thoroughly combined as possible. It will be thick! If you're having trouble getting the dough to come together, feel free to add an extra tablespoon of milk.
Remove the dough from the bowl, place it on your floured board, and knead for a minute, ensuring that the dough has all come together.
Place a rounded ball of dough into each well in the muffin tin – the dough should just about fill each well, as seen in the photo. You should have the exact amount needed to fill 12. Gently press down the each ball of dough so that the top is slightly flattened. Place in the oven and bake for 14-16 minutes, or until the tops and edges are golden brown. When done, remove from the oven and place the entire pan on a cooling rack.
After the scuffins have cooled, melt 2 T of butter in a small bowl, and place the cinnamon sugar mixture into another small bowl. Dip the top of each scuffin into the melted butter, shaking off any excess, and then into the cinnamon sugar. Enjoy!
Happy Eating,
Natalie