If I go to sleep yearning to make some kind of dessert, then I can expect to not get much sleep that night. I’ve written before about waking up early – somehow roused from a restless sleep by things that beg to be baked. Over the weekend, I went to sleep with a muffin in my noggin – aka: muffins on the brain. I longed for something cakey and soft and moist. I wanted it so much I could almost taste it.

So I got up at 6 am, and by 8, I was sitting down to breakfast with not one but two kinds of muffins. It’s amazing what a craving can make me do.

Ta-dah! The efforts of a morning of baking:

Since I have long waxed poetic about the joys of coffeecake, I decided to turn one of my favorite recipes into muffins. It was really just a matter of scooping the batter into muffin pans instead of one large pan. It bakes faster this way, which means I’d get to satisfy my cake craving sooner – and sooner is always better. (At least for me). The muffins baked up in 34 minutes.

One of the nice things about this sour cream coffeecake muffin (what a mouthful of a name, eh!) is how the cinnamon streusel melted into these beautiful brown patches that were visible on the sides — call it a sneak peek, if you will.

The other muffins I made were Banana Crunch Muffins. I always have a bag of overripe bananas sitting in my freezer, ever ready to be of service when they’re needed. Bananas are one of my favorite fruits, next to durian , so you won’t ever see me chucking a banana into the trash just because it’s black.

The recipe comes from Ina Garten, otherwise known as the Barefoot Contessa. I’m not very familiar with her show, but I’ve browsed through her books and I know she has some pretty spectacular dessert recipes. This one is no exception. It’s a muffin unlike any other and loaded with good things: granola, walnuts, coconut, and diced bananas. Of course you don’t have to add all that stuff in – omit one or all if you’d like. It really depends on your mood.

Once you’ve got these babies baked, then it’s a good mmmuffin morning to you!

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