Streusel Cupcakes

Well ... I seem to have taken on a new addiction ... baking Martha Stewart cupcakes.
This is for good reason: I am an awful baker.  Just awful.  No matter how hard I try, my end product NEVER looks like it does in the picture or the way it looks when I've had it at someone else's house.  But somehow ... some magical twist of fate allows me to follow Martha's recipes and end up with a dessert that is edible.  Some recipes I've had to attempt a few times, I admit.  But it's worth all that effort to get the unbelievably yummy taste that is intended when Martha included her recipe in her book.
The latest creation is the Streusel Cupcake - goes perfectly with that mid-morning coffee.  I warn you, however, if you try this recipe ... the floor will look like Cookie Monster has been there as soon as you bite into these succulent morsels.  They are CRUMBLY.

With glaze:

Streusel Cupcake recipe - makes 24
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup plus 2Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature (I never seem to have butter at room temp, or read the recipe well enough in advance to prep it ... so I just popped the butter in the microwave for 30sec ... this seemed to do the trick)
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups sour cream
Streusel Topping (recipe follows)
Milk Glaze (recipe follows)

1. Preheat oven to 350F.  Line standard muffin tins with paper liners.  Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
2. With an electric mixer on med-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.  Stir in vanilla by hand.  Add flour mixture and sour cream; stir until just combined.
3. Divide batter evenly among lined cups.  Sprinkle half the topping over cupcakes, gently pressing it into the batter.  Sprinkle evenly with remaining topping.  Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until golden brown and a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20mins (again - I NEVER rotate or stick a cake tester in ... I just blindly trust Martha's timing and it seems to work ...).
Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes.
4. To finish, place cupcakes on a wire rack set over a baking sheet; drizzle evenly with milk glaze.  Glazed cupcakes can be stored up to 3 days at room temp in airtight containers.

Streusel topping:
(makes enough for 24 cupcakes)
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup packed dark-brown sugar
2 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp coarse salt
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temp.

Whisk together flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt; cut in the butter using a pastry blender, your fingertips, or two table knives until combined but still crumbly.  Refrigerate 30mins before using. (uhh ... or just for the time it takes to plop the ingredients of part one into cupcake tins).

Milk glaze:
(makes enough for 24 cupcakes)
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
3 Tbsp milk

Whisk together ingredients until smooth.  Use immediately.

... The smell of these beauties baking is sell-your-home worthy!