By December. The quality of December light in the northern valley is something I've spent years describing and still can't do justice to. The low angle, the blue-white quality at noon that isn't quite winter but is the correct precursor to it, the way the shadows stretch to twice the length of summer shadows. Everything is geometrical in December. The world is its skeleton.
Finished the first draft of the ranch piece. Twelve hundred words, too long for the magazine format I've been working in, about the right length for what it is. The angle I found, eventually: the fences. Specifically the Sunday fence walks Dad and I have done at the end of every summer since I came back, and what those walks have meant as the ranch has been moving from his hands to mine. The fence as a structural metaphor is almost too obvious — but the specific things that happened on those walks are true and true things can overcome obvious metaphors if you write them carefully enough.
Showed it to Mom first. She reads my pieces before they go anywhere — not for feedback exactly, she doesn't frame it as feedback, she just asks to see them. After she read this one she sat for a few minutes and then said: Your father would want you to know he'd read this. Which told me two things: she'd already shown it to him, and his response had been in the language they both spoke to each other about things that mattered. I said: I know.
Made pfeffernüsse again, same as every December. Colleen's mother's recipe. The kitchen smelled right. Some things are part of the season and not the person who makes them, which means they continue longer than any individual cook and that's the right way for food to be.
The pfeffernüsse are Colleen’s mother’s recipe, and I don’t share those — some things stay where they belong. But the spirit of that December baking, that particular warmth of spice and sugar that fills a kitchen and means the season has truly arrived, is something I can point toward. These cinnamon and sugar dusted coconut vanilla muffins carry the same unhurried quality: a dough that rewards patience, a dusting that catches the light the way a good December morning does. You make them because the kitchen should smell right, and because some things are worth repeating exactly.
Cinnamon and Sugar Dusted Coconut Vanilla Breakfast Muffins
Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 20 min | Total Time: 35 min | Servings: 12 muffins
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, plus more for dusting
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 1/3 cup coconut oil, melted and slightly cooled
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- For the cinnamon-sugar dusting:
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat and prepare. Heat your oven to 375°F. Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners or grease each cup well with butter or nonstick spray.
- Mix the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, shredded coconut, sugar, baking powder, salt, and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon until evenly combined.
- Mix the wet ingredients. In a separate medium bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, melted coconut oil, and vanilla extract until smooth and uniform.
- Combine. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold with a spatula until just combined — stop when the last streaks of flour disappear. Do not overmix; a few lumps are fine and will bake out.
- Fill and bake. Divide the batter evenly among the 12 muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full. Bake for 18–21 minutes, until the tops are lightly golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Make the cinnamon-sugar dusting. While the muffins bake, stir together the 1/4 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon in a small shallow bowl. Melt the butter separately and keep it nearby.
- Dust while warm. Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove them. Working one at a time, brush the top of each muffin generously with melted butter, then dip or roll the top in the cinnamon-sugar mixture to coat. Set on a wire rack to finish cooling.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 248 | Protein: 4g | Fat: 11g | Carbs: 34g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 185mg