Coffee-Muffy, and a Recipe

Lately, I've been having extra trouble trying to cram all my glasses and coffee cups into my one tiny cabinet. I keep thinking, "I need to eliminate. I must purge!" But then I look at all of my favorite little cups and I just can't seem to part; they each have such sweet little memories.

There's the one little thrift shop find that Mercy brought home for me last summer when she was living with us, and out of which I drank almost every day; the perfect size, slightly rounded lip, the perfect handle, and pretty to look at. But then there's the tiny little blue floral cup that Abi sent me all the way from London. How can I pass that one up? Oh, and then the vintage set of 2 white mugs with a green flower (now sadly down to one due to a crash) which I picked up at a Salvation Army. And of course, not to be outdone by all of these memories, Naomi bought me a green and blue pedestal type cup from the Goodwill this summer so I wouldn't forget her! And then there's the handmade pottery Luke found at a garage sale in North Carolina and gave me for a Mother's Day several years ago. And there's also the cute little green cup Amaleah caught me admiring and then secretly bought (with Daddy's help) for my Birthday.

It's just so fun to have special coffee cups for the ordinary daily cup of coffee, and especially for the impromptu coffee shared with a drop-in family or friend. My sister in law Kristen calls it "coffee-muffy," which we had this weekend when we were lounging around after a trip to the zoo. I started the coffee, defrosted some frozen pumpkin doughnut muffins, and we all meandered in for a cup shared around the kitchen table.

I used to swear I'd never drink coffee...but now I'm so glad I do!

Pumpkin Doughnut Muffins (from Everyday Food)

for the batter:

10 T. unsalted butter, room temp. (plus more for pan)

3 c. all-purpose flour

2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. coarse salt

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp. ground allspice

1/3 c. buttermilk*

1 1/4 cups pumpkin puree'

3/4 c. brown sugar

2 large eggs

*if you don't have buttermilk, just combine about the same amount of milk with 1 tsp. or so of vinegar.

Preheat oven to 350. Butter and flour 12 standard muffin cups. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and allspice. In a small bowl, whisk the buttermilk and pumpkin. With a mixer, beat butter and brown sugar til light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, scraping down bowl as needed. With mixer in low, add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with two additions pumpkin mixture, and beat to combine. Spoon 1/3 cup batter into each muffin tin and bake until toothpick inserted comes out clean, about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine:

3/4 c. sugar

2 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Prepare: 1/4 c. melted butter

Let muffins cool for 10 minutes in pan on wire rack. With one at a time, brush each muffin with melted butter, then roll in cinnamon-sugar and let cool completely on wire rack.

These muffins were delish! And they froze well (to freeze, save the butter and cinnamon-sugar step til after defrosted).