Week of Sweets: Day 5, Eggnog Muffins

This past weekend my friend Amy made a massive batch of delicious homemade eggnog.

We're talking lots of egg-separation and egg-beating, plenty of cream-whipping action, and...a healthy dose of Rum.

Talk about a recipe for beverage success.

I've heard through the grapevine that not everyone likes eggnog (gasp!). I don't understand the dislike, friends. What's not to love about liquid ice cream laced with Rum?

Needless to say, I love the stuff.

In the spirit of the season, and inspired by Amy's homemade nog, I whipped up a batch of Monet's Eggnog Muffins last night. Holy deliciousness. Is it possible for a muffin to taste so awesome? I promise you, eggnog-haters: even you will beg for more of these nog-tastic muffies.

And yes, I just said "nog-tastic." (To be fair, Adam coined the phrase first. As my official taste-tester I like to remember the first words out of his mouth when he takes the first bite of a treat. After one bite of his muffin he closed his eyes, slowly shook his head, and said "Nog-Tastic, Kylie." This is one of the 5,349 reasons I married him.).

So drink up, dear friends! And if you're so daring, dunk a bite of this holiday muffin in a tall glass of eggnog. This nog-tastic opportunity only presents itself one month of the year. Don't let it slip away.

Eggnog Muffins
(recipe from Monet at Anecdotes and Apple Cores)

I actually used Silk's soy "Nog," which is dairy-free and worked completely fine! But feel free to use the "real deal" in your recipe. Do yourself a favor and bake these muffins for Christmas morning breakfast. And remember: Eggnog for breakfast is perfectly acceptable on Christmas.

Muffin Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
  
• 2 - 1/2 cups flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 - 1/4 cups eggnog

Crumb Topping Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Fill a muffin tin with paper liners (My batch made 12 muffins, plus one gigantic muffin--I poured all of the extra batter in a large ramekin.).

2) Cream butter and sugar together. Beat in eggs and vanilla. In a small separate bowl, combine dry ingredients. Alternately add the dry ingredients with the eggnog, stirring gently with a spoon. Pour batter into prepared muffin cups.

3) To make the crumb topping: Mix the brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Cut butter in, and crumble with a fork. Sprinkle topping over each muffin (you will have some extra leftover topping). Bake muffins for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.