Sugar doughnut muffins

What is it that compels me to bake at 2:00 in the morning?  A few weeks ago I had a craving for chocolate cereal treats in the early hours of the morning, and tonight I had an urge to find a good muffin recipe and have at it.  This is why I love that Pinterest is open 24/7.  I went through my "Breakfast" board and found a recipe for which I had all of the ingredients and got to mixin'!



The picture on the original is going to be far better than any picture I can get with my iPod, but I'm going to attempt one anyway.  Then I'm going to dive into this muffin while I type!

A few quick reasons why I love this recipe:
1) It has sugar on top... how could that be bad?
2) The sugar on top actually hides any cosmetic flaws in the muffins, meaning I could make them for someone and never worry about how they look.
3) With the exception of the nutmeg, it uses common pantry staples.
4) I adore nutmeg.
5) Did I mention it has sugar on top?

While baking, these muffins smell like a sugar cookie.  In fact, they look a bit like a sugar cookie on steroids, and I love sugar cookies!  They are light and fluffy just like a good muffin should be.  How could you possibly turn down a sugary confection for breakfast?  (Or in my case for a late-night snack.)

The sugar on top took a bit of practice to get right, especially since my pastry brush is in the dishwasher and I had to use a spoon instead, but it's still not incredibly difficult.  Oh yeah, I almost forgot.  They're delicious!

Sugar Doughnut Muffins

3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup milk

2 Tbsp butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a muffin pan or mini muffin pan with spray oil.

In a medium mixing bowl combine the 3/4 cup sugar and the egg and beat together (I used a whisk).  In a separate bowl add the flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg and mix to combine.  Add the flour mixture to the egg/sugar mixture and mix to combine.  Add the vanilla, oil, and milk and mix until smooth.  Divide evenly into the prepared muffin pan (the original recipe says it makes 10 regular size muffins but I got 12 slightly smaller muffins out of it, or 24 mini muffins).

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Remove from the oven and set aside.

While the muffins are cooling put the melted butter and sugar in a small bowls.  Take each muffin and brush the top with the butter and roll it in the sugar to coat the top.  Allow the muffins to finish cooling on a wire rack.

I made a glass of my favorite Kool-aid to accompany my late-night snack and enjoyed!  You should too, but maybe you can wait until morning to make them.