Wednesday 9 March 2016

Muffins with Maple Walnut Cinnamon Topping

To me a true muffin doesn't have a cake crumb, but rather innards composed of a fluffy, honeycombed texture. The batter used is similar to very thick griddlecake batter. The same astuce applies: leave the batter lumpy which involves hardly any mixing.


Ingredients
12  medium muffins baked in 80 ml/2.6 fluid oz capacity tins

  • Flour, white, 280 g (2 American cups of 8 fluid oz each)
  • Baking powder, 3 tsp
  • Salt, 1/2 tsp
  • Sugar, 4 T
  • Maple syrup, 1 tsp
  • Egg, 1, slightly beaten
  • Milk, whole, 250 ml (8 fluid oz)
  • Butter, melted, 60 g/4 T
  • Cinnamon, 1/4 tsp
  • Walnuts, finely chopped, 2 T

Preheat oven to 190 degrees C/375 degrees F. Butter the tins well. Add the maple syrup to the sugar.


Blend well to get a moist, light beige mixture. Reserve two tablespoons for the topping.


In a large bowl, stir together flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder. Pour in milk, beaten egg, and melted butter. Stir just until everything is moistened.

Perfectly lumpy batter

Fill the tins a little more than halfway.  Mix together the reserved maple sugar, walnuts, and cinnamon. Sprinkle a teaspoon on each muffin and lightly press down.


Bake around twenty minutes or until a toothpick inserted in a muffin comes out clean. Wait about a minute and then turn the tins over a suitable surface. Most should come out. For the reluctant ones, give a nice thump on the back of the said tins. They are so comforting when served warm. As is their fragrance wafting about. Any leftovers can be reheated in a low oven or split and toasted under the broiler.

They taste good cold too! The texture becomes closer to that of an English muffin (crumpet)

With your hands break apart a plump muffin height-wise  so as to afford the sweet butter some fjords into which it can melt.

A drizzle of maple syrup wouldn't be out of order

The soft, moist, honeycombed insides can be be seen clearly when not filled with melting butter.

They also freeze well

There was just two days since the beginning of February when it hasn't rained. Those were the days I managed to spray the peach tree while it was still dormant and get the newly arrived strawberries in the ground. So much more to sow and plant but the rain just will not stop so the soil can dry out to a workable state. Dirac the Young Cat has restricted his outdoor activity mostly to brief romps, preferring to stay inside.

A happy, dry paw points out the volume containing the entry on tigers

À la prochaine!

RELATED POSTS

Pancakes made with baking powder

RELATED LINKS

Gastropod (podcast) on the maple syrup boom plus a summary & photos