jam {doughnut} muffins.

I am a person of cravings. Have I mentioned this before?

The other day, I had this crazy craving for jelly-filled doughnut muffins. I just couldn’t get it out of my head.

{Imagine poor Daniel when I am preggo one day – I can just imagine him on the hunt for jelly-filled doughnut muffins…}

It all started because I was craving muffins, actually. Not so much eating them, but baking them. I was at work, but I wanted to be in the kitchen, mixing batter, baking muffins. Can you blame me?

I tweeted to see if anyone had any favorite muffin recipes to share, and someone pointed me in the direction of Nigella Lawson. It was strange, I thought, that I’d never tried any of her recipes, and after searching her muffin recipes, I immediately fell in love with this jam doughnut version. I also knew I’d be back for more.

You may recall the sugar donut ice cream cupcake creation I made last year. For those, I used a recipe for sugar donut muffins, and slightly modified it to be more like a cupcake. I still, however, always thought it would be perfect as a muffin, since a muffin is more of a breakfast thing.

{Note that I said “more of a” breakfast thing – because a cupcake can totally be eaten for breakfast, in my book}

They’re very simple to make: You just fill the muffin cups partly with batter, add a dollop of jam, then fill with more batter. This recipe should make 12 muffins, though I ended up a few short. It made for good portion control, but I’d probably double it next time – they are that good!

Jam Doughnut Muffins

Adapted from Nigella Lawson’s How to Be a Domestic Goddess

• 1 1/3 cups self-rising cake flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup milk
• 7 tablespoons corn or vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 12 teaspoons strawberry jam {or your favorite type of jam}
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

With a fork, beat together the milk, oil, egg, and vanilla. Stir this into the flour and 1/3 cup sugar to combine. Don’t worry about lumps; if you over-beat, the muffins will be tough. Spoon the mixture into each muffin cup so that it’s just under a third full. Then with a teaspoon add a dollup of strawberry jam, then top with more muffin mix so that the cups are just about full.

Place the pan in your preheated oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until the tops feel springy and resistant and the muffins have puffed up.

Meanwhile, melt the butter slowly in a thick-bottomed pan, and lay the remaining sugar out in a wide, shallow bowl. As soon as the muffins are ready, remove them, dip them in the butter, and roll them in the sugar. Eat warm.

Makes 9-12 muffins, depending on the size of your pan.