Coffee Cake Muffins with Chocolate Chips and Toasted Pecans

I am in lens heaven.  I finally bit the bullet and bought myself the AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G lens for my Nikon DSLR.  With a fast maximum aperture it's great for low lighting and produces a beautiful background blur.  It makes me giddy just thinking about it and I'm not kidding.  I've been like a kid in a candy shop; taking pictures of everything I cook.  All of a sudden I feel like a certified food photographer! (Amazon link at bottom of post).

These are the first pictures I took with the lens.  Shooting these photos seemed like a walk in the park.  Of course the muffins were a great subject with their crumbly brown tops, lightly sprinkled with powder sugar.  As well, you get a bonus layer of crumble.  The crumble is clearly the best part, so why not stick in an extra layer? I dolled up the crumble with toasted pecans and mini semi-sweet chocolate chips.

These sweet and cake like muffins are perfect for your Saturday or Sunday morning coffee.  Linger over them and your paper for a truly sweet and relaxing weekend.  I'll be taking more pictures :)

Coffee Cake Muffins with Chocolate Chips and Pecans

Yields 12 muffins

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (one stick), room temperature
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• powdered sugar

Crumble Topping

• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (one stick), chilled and cut into small pieces
• 1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Cooking Directions

1. First mix brown sugar, flour, and salt for crumble topping in a medium bowl. Cut in butter until mixture resembles a coarse meal.  Stir in chocolate chips and pecans.
2. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour muffin tins or line with paper cups.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and baking soda and set aside.
4. With an electric mixer, beat together butter, sour cream, granulated sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. With mixer on low beat in flour mixture.
5. Divide half the batter among prepared muffin cups. Top with half the crumble topping. Top with remaining batter and then rest of crumble.
6. Bake 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
7. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Dust with powdered sugar.

Adapted from Martha Stewart recipe