Dorie's Allspice Muffins

My girlfriend, Ranae, was having a shing-dig at her church and needed a little breakfast item. Just a little snack like food that was easy to serve and eat. Something that would be complemented by simple fruit and a pitcher of lemon water. I told her I got this new cookbook for Christmas and everyone rants and raves about these recipes. It was Baking From My Home to Yours By Dorie Greenspan. I had seen, where someone on the blogs had made them, and gave them great reviews. So, I suggested these muffins to Ranae. I read off the recipe to her and she had everything the recipe called for except the lemon zest. I told her it was "optional", not to worry about it.
I called back the next day after her trial batch to see what she thought. She said they were bland, even tasteless. Her husband even asked if she forgot the sugar. FORGOT THE SUGAR? TASTELESS? How can that be? I've never heard a bad thing about Dorie's recipes. Well, I had to try for myself.
So, I set out to make a batch for the family. With the words *bland* and *tasteless* in my head, I began measuring and mixing. I made sure I put in the "optional" lemon zest and sprinkled a little extra spice on the tops just for extra insurance!
What came out of my oven was not tasteless. But I could see if you left out that optional ingredient, it could be considered bland.

It was how ever a little flat. And they kind of ran together. That was o.k. My husband said he kind of liked them flat. And square!
These did not last long at my house. We loved the crumb topping and the sweet taste of the allspice.
Dorie is still welcomed in my home. I cant wait for the next time that we get together and bake up lovin from the oven.

Allspice Crumb Muffins
From Dorie Greenspan's Baking From my Home to Yours
Streusel:
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground allspice
5 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into bits
Muffins:
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1 stick (8 tbsp) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs
3/4 cup whole milk
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
grated zest of 1 lemon (optional)
Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 375 degrees.
Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular sized muffin tin or fit the molds with paper muffin cups. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.
To make the streusel:
Put the flour, brown sugar, and allspice in a small bowl and sift them through your fingers to blend. Add the bits of cold butter into the dry ingredients and toss to coat, then use your fingers to work the butter into the dry ingredients until you've got irregularly shaped crumbs. Set aside in the refrigerator. (You can make the crumbs up to 3 days ahead and keep them covered in the fridge.)
To make the muffins:
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, allspice and salt. Stir in the brown sugar, making certain there are no lumps. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk the melted butter, eggs, milk and vanilla extract together until well combined. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, quickly but gently stir to blend. Don't worry about being thorough- the batter will be lumpy and that's the way it should be. Stir in the lemon zest, if using. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Sprinkle some streusel over each muffin, then use your fingertips to gently press the crumbs into the batter. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.