Maple Pecan Muffins
I'm a bit of a squirrel. And by squirrel I mean I like to hoard things. My pantry and cupboards are full of things to be used "one day". I stock up on hard to find grains, beans, baking supplies, etc when I come across them thinking that if I don't get them now, I might not be able to for a long time. But the thing is, because a lot of these ingredients are not as common and everyday (at least for me), I don't often think to use them. Some examples are farro, malt powder, chickpea flour, and fenugreek. Anyway so I've decided to start going through and using things up as I can. Going through the grains and beans is easier, but going through bags of wheat germ, wheat bran and oat bran will take some more time.
So I set out to find a recipe that used one of those three and found these maple pecan muffins. Which are my new favourite healthy-ish muffins, and possibly my new favourite muffins period. I adore them. They kind of remind me of bran muffins (but not as moist), and are a bit crumbly so also remind me of cornbread. And most exciting of all, I could actually taste a bit of the maple syrup which is used as a sweetener - usually it just disappears into the other ingredients. The first time I made these muffins, I wanted to fancy them up a bit so sprinkled some pecans on top. But from now on I'll just mix them all in because it's easier.
If this sounds good, you might also like:
Banana Peanut Butter Oatmeal Muffins
Strawberry Lemon Sunflower Seed Muffins
Whole Wheat Orange Spice Muffins
Candied Maple Walnut Pancake Loaf
Maple Pecan Muffins
Adapted from Feast (found on The Wednesday Chef)
Makes 12
1 cup pecans, roughly chopped
2 cups whole wheat flour (I used 263 g)
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk
1 egg
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Fill a 12-cup muffin tray with paper liners.
2. Mix together the pecans with flour, salt, wheat germ and baking powder. In another bowl, whisk together milk, egg, maple syrup, oil and vanilla.
3. Pour the liquids into the dry mixture. Gently fold to mix. The batter can have some lumps. Do not overmix because these muffins can get tough. Spoon batter into muffin cups.
4. Bake for about 15-20 minutes until tester comes clean. The nut topping turns golden, but the muffins will be somewhat pale. Remove muffins to a cooling rack.
19 comments:
It's breakfast time, and these are causing hunger to set in. There aren't a lot of ingredients in them either. An easy make!
I made muffins too! These ones look really great and I've got a huge bag of pecans to use up so I'm bookmarking for the near future.
I am such a hoarder. It's kind of a disease. But then I know I'll kick myself when I finally want to make something that uses the random esoteric ingredient in question.
I too wheat germ sitting in my cupboard. Definitely need to make these!
oh, yum!
I am so glad to hear I'm not the only Food Squirrel. The rest of my life is clutter free, but my pantry is so full of "this is something I have to have and never use" things it's bulging.
I love those muffins, will need to get maple syrup, which is going to be another addition to the pantry! Decisions,decisions!
these little beauties seem like a primo way to use up some of your obscure ingredients! i'm a hoarder too, but when you said you were a squirrel, i thought we were heading into acorn territory! :)
lovely! and just in time because i bought pecans last week.
will try them
I like the use of maple as the sweetener!
This looks delicious and I have already stocked to make them! :D
Btw, wheat germ, wheat bran and oat bran... sounds like it is granola time! :)
(Btw your low-fat winter fruit granola is delicious!)
Glad to know there are other hoarders out there. I have a large pantry so I can always find room for things I really don't need. :) Delicious looking muffins.
They look delicious and I bet they are with the addition of the maple syrup! Wheat germ is great, good and healthy!
Ooh, we love muffins. These look delicious! I'll have to make these for breakfast one day next week.
Made 'em vegan with rice milk and Ener-G egg replacer. Really crumbly, but delicious, and the maple really expresses itself in the second day after the the whole wheat calms down. Yum!
I too have trouble throwing out perfectly good ingredients, no matter how hard it is to use up the very last bits! I try not to accumulate though, and usually end up throwing the odds and ends into my every day foods, like oatmeal and smoothies. Those two recipes can accommodate any sort of strange additions!
I have squirrel habits myself. In fact, I saw an ad for the reality show about hoarders on TV the other day. The featured woman bought another house just to store her stuff, and I had a terrible image of me having to do that for food/kitchen equipment! Anyway, these look delicious. It's good when the maple flavor shines, since that stuff is so expensive 8)
They look really yummy! I have to try them once, maybe on the weekend. I will time to make some.
Thanks for the recipe.
Hey Ashley, These muffins are definitely an acquired taste and it took me a while to appreciate them.. once I relegated them to the healthy breakfast muffin category. I was hoping for something a bit more moist and sweet, so I will keep my eyes peeled for a different recipe.
I wrote about it here: http://tastespace.wordpress.com/2010/08/07/maple-pecan-muffins/
how much vanilla is suppose to be used. it mentions it in the directions but is not listed in the ingredients
Anonymous: 1 tsp, I just added it, sorry! :)
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