Speculoos muffins

Every saturday morning I make little breads and a sweet snack for lunch. Not a speculooscake, because we eat that from monday until friday, but a lot of times I bake muffins. I blogged it earlier: I am a big fan of the book of Dorie Greenspan (cooking from my home to yours) and I use it a lot to bake the recipes and for inspiration. She gaves a big number of examples and recipes for the most delicious muffins.

When I got through the book I saw one with chocolate (and for a chocoholic like me, that's definitely one I'm going to try), but today with a lot of stormy spring weather I had a taste for something with speculoos. Speculoos is a spices which is most commonly used in December. It contains a bit of cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper and cloves, but can contain even more as I've seen many different recipes. 

In the book there was a recipe with all spice. I've exchanged the all spice with speculoos.

My small kitchenprince helped me by stirring. And with his 3 years old he's a good help for the preparation of muffins, because the batter may contain lumps. He is also the first man in line to taste.

He takes the tasting job quite serious. The crumbling top is examined by his little fingers. The muffin is eaten till the last crumb. His verdict: This is definitely a muffin were going to make more.   

Ingredients (12 muffins):

For the topping:

- 1/2 cup all purpose flour (60 gram);

- 1/2 cup light brown sugar (110 gram);

- 1/2 teaspoon speculoos spice;

- 5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (60 gram), in small cubes.

For the muffin batter:

- 2 cups plain flour (250 gram);

- 1/2 cup sugar (100 gram);

- 1/2 teaspoon speculoos spice;

- 1 tablespoon baking powder;

- 1/4 cup light brown sugar (55 gram);

- 3/4 cup whole milk (180 ml);

- 8 tablespoons melted unsalted butter (100 gram);

- 2 large eggs;

- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit (200 degrees Celsius).

Prepare the topping:

Mix the flour, sugar and speculoos. Add the cubes of cold butter and use your fingers to make small crumbles. Put it in the refregirator. 

Prepare the batter:

Mix in a large bowl both sugars, flour, speculoos and the baking powder.

In a second bowl mix the liquid ingredients: the milk, egg, melted butter and the vanilla extract. Poor the liquid on the dry ingredients and mix fast with a wooden spoon. Clumbs aren't a problem.Divide the batter in the muffin plate. Sprinkle the topping on top and press it a little in the batter. Put it in the oven for about 20 minutes. Put the plate on a rack at room temperature for about 5 minutes. The muffins are ready to eat. Enjoy