Caramel Spice Breakfast Muffins

Mr Caramel and I got invited to join some dear friends of ours for brunch after Mass tomorrow. Besides the fact that they are wonderful company, I'm so happy for the invite because it gives me an excuse to make something yummy. I got the inspiration for Caramel Spice Muffins from the Betty Crocker website but I've tweaked it, added just a little alcohol (of course) and made it my own. So of course, I had to share it.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup caramel topping
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1 tbsp cream sherry
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Topping:

1/2 cup melted butter (or some spray butter)
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
caramel topping

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Coat 16 muffin cups with cooking spray.
2. Beat butter, sugar, caramel topping, eggs, milk and cream sherry on low speed. (The mixture will look really strange at this point, but don't worry.)
3. Stir in flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. (The mixture will still look really strange. But trust yourself, don't dump your batter.)
4. Fill muffin cups to about 2/3 full. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
5. Meanwhile, mix sugar and pumpkin pie spice together in a small bowl. 
6. Remove muffins from pan. Roll in melted butter, or spray with spray butter. Sprinkle with sugar mixture. Drizzle with caramel topping.

Tip: If you don't have pumpkin pie spice you can combine 4 tbsp cinnamon, 4 tsp nutmeg, 4 tsp ground ginger and 3 tsp allspice. 

These muffins are very, very tasty and just might be one of my favorites. Try them and let me know what you think.