My Better Homes & Gardens cookbook (the one with the red and white plaid cover) has a great basic muffin recipe that you can easily enhance with different mix-ins and flavors. I used that recipe as the basis for today’s pecan oat muffins, and I may have gone a bit overboard with the pecans.

The next time I make these, I’ll probably scale back my pecan quantity in the batter to 1/4 cup instead of the 1/2 cup I used today. While they are very tasty, they didn’t rise as much as I wanted them to, probably because the pecans weighed down the batter – so they’re a bit on the heavy side. No worries! This is one of the things that I love most about baking – the trial and error, which leads to great ideas for next time.

Ingredients

For the pecan oat streusel

• 3 tablespoons flour
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice
• 3 tablespoons chopped pecans
• 2 tablespoons rolled (old-fashioned) oats

For the muffins

• 1 1/3 cups flour
• 3/4 cups rolled (old-fashioned) oats
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup cooking oil
• 1/2 cup pecans, finely chopped

For the drizzle

• 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon allspice
• 2 – 2 1/2 teapoons water

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line two muffin tins with paper liners; this recipe yields 18 muffins.

Make the streusel: in a medium bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and allspice. Cut in butter until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs; stir in pecans and oats; set aside.

For the muffins: in a large bowl, stir together flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and allspice. Make a well in the center.

In a small bowl, whisk together egg, milk, and cooking oil. Pour into the well in the dry mixture and stir until just combined, then add pecans and stir until no dry streaks remain.

Using a two-inch cookie scoop, drop scoops of batter into prepared pans, filling about 2/3 to 3/4 full.

Divide streusel mixture among the muffins; I used very generous teaspoonfuls.

Bake for 16-20 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Remove muffins from tins and cool completely on a wire rack.

To make the drizzle, combine powdered sugar, cinnamon, and allspice. Add water, one-half teaspoon at a time, mixing well until you reach a medium-thick drizzle consistency. Pour drizzle into a zip-top bag, snip off a corner, and pipe drizzle over muffins.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days.