TWD: Allspice Crumb Muffins

It's not just a simple Tuesdays With Dorie post today...it's also my 100th blog post! I can't believe it! I couldn't decide whether to do something special for this post, or to just go along as if it were a regular post like any other. I pretty much decided to let it go like any other post, mainly because I had no idea when I'd find the time to plan or execute something special. Then...I realized that if I waited long enough, I could have a TWD post as my 100th post, which I thought would be quite fitting. After all, my joining TWD was the whole reason to start this blog in the first place!
This week's TWD assignment was a welcome one. It was chosen by Kayte, of Grandma's Kitchen Table. This was a very easy recipe to put together, and I had pretty much all the ingredients on hand. While I was making these last Saturday, I decided to go ahead and make a couple of other kinds of muffins to take to church the following morning. You'll see those in future posts. Anyway, these muffins were delicious and well-received during Sunday School.

I just had two little issues with this recipe. First, the crumb topping. I know some of the other bakers had some problems with the crumb topping sliding off the muffin during baking. I took their advice and lightly pressed it into the batter, so that kept the crumb from sliding off. However, it still didn't turn out the way I expected it to. I guess I expected something more along the lines of a streusel topping, and that's not what I got. It was very tasty, but just not the look I had hoped for. The next issue was with excess butter. When I removed the muffins (which were baked in groovy-looking Halloween cupcake liners) from the tins, there was a puddle of butter left behind. YUCK! The muffins didn't taste greasy or overly buttery, but I just couldn't get rid of the visual of the muffins sitting in a puddle of butter. Plus, it made the bottom of my liners buttery/greasy which was kind of messy during transport.

Overall, these muffins were great! I enjoyed the allspice flavor...I've never used it as a primary flavoring, and it was nice to really taste it. It's got a light "fall" flavor to it, which is perfect this time of year. Kayte has posted the recipe on her website, which you can find here. Happy baking!