Cinnamon Sugar Doughnut Muffins

March, second week. La Cocina Parkville cohort 3 week eight — final class. Same graduation feast. Same emotional moment. Mr. Patterson did not give a speech this time — he had decided to retire the speech for the second cohort, a self-aware act I appreciated — but Hector did. Hector stood up at the eating part and said, "Mrs. Carmen, the food I never knew I missed has become the food I cannot live without. Thank you for giving me the food my birth family was not there to give me." The class clapped. I cried briefly. The cohort was complete.

Yolanda's second week at Asylum Hill went smoothly. She texted me. "Mrs. Carmen, sofrito week was a hit. Patricia and I are running this." I texted: "Yolanda, of course you are."

Tuesday food bank: chicken stew. Marcus made it. The chicken stew was the best chicken stew the food bank had served. The line was the line. Mr. Patterson was the doorman.

Thursday I sat with Mami for three hours. She was tired but lucid. She said, "Carmen, the program is now multi-location." I said, "Mami, yes." She said, "Carmen, you have built a thing." I said, "Mami, the city built it. Brian built it. Yolanda runs Asylum Hill. Marcus is leading Frog Hollow in the fall." She said, "Carmen, you started it." I said, "Mami, I started a class." She said, "Carmen, the class became a thing." I said, "Mami, yes." She said, "Carmen, the class became a thing because you made it about the food and not about you." I said, "Mami." She said, "Carmen, I am proud. I am proud the way that does not need words. I am proud the way I do not have to repeat. So this is the only time I am saying it. Carmen, I am proud." I cried. She patted my hand. She said, "Carmen, do not cry. Make me sopita." I made her sopita. She ate it. Wepa.

Mami said the proudest thing she has ever said to me, and then she asked me to make her sopita — and that is exactly who she is, and exactly why I love her. There is a kind of cooking that is not about the dish at all; it is about the person you are standing in the kitchen for. These Cinnamon Sugar Doughnut Muffins are not sopita, but they carry the same spirit: they are warm, they are simple, they take maybe thirty minutes, and they are made entirely because someone you love is sitting in the next room waiting. Make them for your person. That’s the whole recipe.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 20 min | Total Time: 35 min | Servings: 12

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp fine salt
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup neutral vegetable oil
1 large egg
3/4 cup whole milk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
For the cinnamon sugar coating:
4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Instructions

Heat the oven. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a standard 12-cup muffin tin or line with paper liners.
Mix dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and sugar until evenly combined.
Mix wet ingredients. In a separate bowl or large measuring cup, whisk together the oil, egg, milk, and vanilla extract until smooth.
Combine. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir gently with a spatula until just combined — a few small lumps are fine. Do not overmix.
Fill and bake. Divide the batter evenly among the 12 muffin cups, filling each about 2/3 full. Bake for 18–20 minutes, until the tops are lightly golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Make the coating. While the muffins bake, melt the butter in a small bowl. In a separate shallow bowl, stir together the sugar and cinnamon.
Coat while warm. Let the muffins cool in the pan for 3–4 minutes, then remove them one at a time. Brush or dip the top of each muffin in the melted butter, then roll or press gently in the cinnamon sugar to coat. Set on a rack. Coat all 12 while still warm so the sugar adheres.
Serve. Best served warm, within the hour, to the person you made them for.

Nutrition (per serving)

Cinnamon Sugar Doughnut Muffins — The Simple Thing You Make Because Someone You Love Asked