Caramel and Coconut Muffins with a Pecan Streusel

I know there's a lot of debate about which are better; muffins or cupcakes, but these honestly are like a mic drop on all that. The flavours in these are just out of the world- is there really anyone who doesn't like caramel out there? And if I have to be frank, muffins are usually way more soft and tender than cupcakes (well, in my opinion), and way easier to make.

Although you admittedly have to make a caramel for these, it pays off SO SO MUCH because you get this amazing toffee flavour as well as a gorgeous tawny brown colour that just screams deliciousness. And don't even get me started on the streusel- automatically anything with a streusel on it I classify as exquisite, but having the pecans in there as well give a satisfying crunch against the fluffiness of the muffin.

Recipe- Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients

Muffin batter

50g caster sugar

splash of water

60g salted butter (we want some salt to give it a kinda salted caramel vibe)

300g self raising flour

150g brown sugar

40g desiccated coconut

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

60g oil

225g milk

Pecan streusel

40g unsalted butter, melted

75g plain flour

1/8 tsp baking powder

2 tbs brown sugar

65g pecans, roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 180°C, and line a 12 hole muffin tin with cupcake liners.

In a small pot or pan, combine the caster sugar and splash of water, and leave to cook on medium heat until it turns a golden brown (don't be tempted to stir it, instead just swirl the pan). Once it's at this stage, carefully add the butter and use a spatula to stir it until it melts. Cook for another couple of minutes until the caramel slightly thickens, then turn off the heat.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar and coconut. In a small jug, whisk together the eggs, oil and vanilla extract.

Measure out the milk, then gradually add it to the hot caramel, stirring to incorporate. If the milk is too cold then the caramel will seize up into a big blob of toffee, but don't worry if it does, just turn the heat back on and melt it back into the milk. Don't be too fussed if there are still blobs of hardened toffee- they'll add little molten blobs of toffee in the baked muffins which are AMAZING.

After the milk has been incorporated, add to the flour mixture along with the egg mixture. Whisk together until just combined, then divide into the muffin tins.

Meanwhile, make the streusel by combining all ingredients together, mixing until it becomes clumpy and the pecans are coated by dough.

Sprinkle evenly over muffins, then bake for 25 minutes or until the muffins spring back when touched.

Cool in tins for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Enjoy!

DIFFICULTY	INGREDIENTS	PREP TIME	COOK TIME
Medium	14	20 minutes	25 minutes