Bada Bing Muffins with Ginger-Oat Streusel

Cherry muffins topped with a pecan-oat streusel.

Bada Bing Muffins with Ginger-Oat Streusel

Ingredients:
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup old fashioned oats
1/3 cup finely chopped pecans, toasted, divided use
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
3 tablespoons finely chopped crystallized ginger

3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup stemmed, pitted, halved, bing cherries

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 9 muffin cups with papers.

To make the streusel, in a medium sized bowl, combine 1 1/2 tablespoons butter, oats, half of the pecans, brown sugar and crystallized ginger, and rub together with your fingertips, until mealy.

In a medium sized mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; stir in additional pecans and granulated sugar until combined.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together 2 tablespoons melted butter, buttermilk, egg and vanilla, until well combined. Add dry ingredients to liquid ingredients, and stir until just combined. Coat cherries with about a couple of teaspoons of flour, then stir into batter.

Divide batter into 9 lined muffin cups. Top each muffin cup evenly with streusel. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-23 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into muffins cups out with moist crumbs attached. Cool for 10 minutes, remove from pan, and cool completely on a wire rack.

Yield: 9 muffins