Buttermilk Spice Muffins

Sometimes when it snows in Colorado, it dumps heavy, wet snow everywhere and tree branches break and plants get squashed. But sometimes when it snows, a little magic happens and everything gets coated with this lovely layer of frost that makes my backyard look like Someone spent the night carefully dusting iridescent, pearly glitter over each twig and branch. I stumbled up to the kitchen to make coffee an hour ago and literally gasped out loud with delight for it is just such a morning! And even better, the skies are dark and ominous so we may get more. Even after living here for 6 1/2 years, the snow still captivates me. I love it!



And what better way to celebrate a frosty Saturday morning than with homemade muffins? I made these a few days ago and they re-heat beautifully. They have a nice dense, moist texture and are pretty heavy on the nutmeg, which makes me happy. A couple of years ago my mom, who is brilliant in the kitchen, discovered whole nutmeg. It looks like a small brown nut and you grate it using the fine part of a cheese grater. It makes the nutmeg flavor incredibly rich.

(And by the way, I chose that link above because of the nice picture of what whole nutmeg looks like, but the article with it is fascinating! If it is true, the Dutch literally traded the island of Manhattan with the British for nutmeg back in 1667. So interesting!)

Buttermilk Spice Muffins

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
3 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour*
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
3/4 cup + 1 T buttermilk

Topping (optional):
2 T brown sugar
1 cup chopped walnuts, pecans or slivered almonds
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon

* I substituted 2 1/2 cups of Pamela's Gluten Free Baking Mix for the flour and then omitted the baking soda. Other than a funny little sink-hole at the top of each muffin, this worked great.)

- Preheat oven to 350.
- Cream sugar and butter until fluffy. Add eggs and beat for 1 minute.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg.
- Alternately add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk to the sugar/butter/egg mixture, mixing thoroughly after each addition. This keeps the batter from getting lumpy.
- Prepare muffin cups with paper liners or non-stick spray and pour in the batter. The recipe is supposed to make 12 regular sized muffins, but for some reason, it made 18 for me.
- The topping makes these muffins pretty sweet. If you use it, mix the ingredients and sprinkle a little on top of each muffin.
- Bake 20-25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

I hope you all have a lovely Saturday!