From the Oven - Mini Cinnamon Sugar Coffee Cakes

The Boyfriend got me a Ninja kitchen system for Christmas.  If you know, the Ninja is not just a blender & food processor but it can also be used to make cake batters & dough.  Even though the informercials look really impressive, I wanted to test out the machine for myself to see if it really delivers on what it promises.  It just so happened that I have an easy coffee cake recipe that I've been meaning to try.  What better time than to do it now?

These should all be in the pantry/fridge already...
     1.75 cups all-purpose flour
     1.5 teaspoons baking powder
     0.5 teaspoon salt
     1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
     0.3 cup canola oil
     0.75 cup granulated sugar
     1 egg
     0.75 cup milk
     0.25 cup unsalted butter
     1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
     0.3 cup granulated sugar

It's as easy as 1-2-3...
     In a big bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt, & cinnamon
     In another big bowl, whisk together oil, sugar, egg, & milk until it looks homogeneous
     Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet mixture; mix until the batter is smooth
     Grease a muffin pan really well using butter, oil, or cooking spray
     Grease up a spoon & scope batter into the muffin pan, filling up about half way
     Bake at 350F for 15 minutes
     While the muffins are still hot, remove them from the pan & put onto a wire rack
     Melt the butter in a pan over low heat or in the microwave & mix the cinnamon with the sugar
     Dip hot muffins into the  butter & roll them in the cinnamon sugar until they are evenly coated
     Place them on a wire rack & let them cool down completely

Makes 12 servings

The flavor is nice & slightly reminds me of an old-fashion donut.  The texture was a little doughier than I thought it would be but it might have to do with the fact that I over mixed the batter.  As a matter of fact, my dad took 1 bite and said "it's so dry!"  Well, thanks a lot Daddy.  When it comes to using the Ninja system to make the batter, it wasn't exactly easier than using a hand mixer but it was a lot faster since the machine is really powerful (without being too loud).  Unfortunately, I think the power may be a bad thing for a batter like this since it was really easy to overdo it.  The biggest negative I have of the Ninja is that it was kind of a pain to clean around the nooks & crannies.  I am going to attempt a similar recipe using the Ninja again to see if it comes out the same; and if it doesn't, then maybe the problem stemmed from the recipe after all & not the machine.