This, my dear readers, is a very Canadian recipe though it comes from a very German cook book. I love it when you can tweak recipes to make them your own. I should do more things like that, more experiments so to speak.
The original recipes is with walnuts, but since I had none I just used pecans. They are pretty close to walnuts but have a less walnutty flavour. I find walnuts always a bit too bitter, so pecans work much better for me.
I made these muffins for a Board meeting which I had to attend on this wonderful Saturday. At least I get overtime for it but it takes up your whole day which is a bummer. On the other hand, meetings like these give me the opportunity to bake something which I might have not baked otherwise.
The recipes is from the “Kleine Muffins ganz groß” (Exciting little Muffins, this is the best translation I can give you.) The book was given to me by my grandparents in 2000, yes, it’s been that long. I love using it because it has some neat ideas. This was a first timer too.
Ingredients:
– 100g pecan nuts, chopped
– 200g flour
– 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
– dash of salt
– 1 egg
– 90 g soft butter
– 200ml buttermilk
– 100ml maple syrup
– 3 tbsp. sugar
– 12 half pecans
Sift the flour and baking powder together into a bowl, add the slat and the chopped pecans. Set aside. Then mix the butter with the syrup and sugar until well combined. Slowly add the butter milk and finally the egg. Pour the dry ingredients on the wet ingredients and carefully combine. You will have a light, fluffy dough.
Line your muffin tin with liners or grease with butter and dust with flour. Divide the batter among them equally and place one half pecan on top, pressing it in slightly.
Bake at 200°C for about 20 to 25 min, until slightly brown and the skewer comes out clean. Let them cool off on a rack.
If you like you can make a maple syrup glaze by mixing a bit of maple syrup and icing sugar. However, they are good as is.
I must say, this one is a keeper and I will make them again. Even the raw batter was tasty and I was licking clean the bowl. Ok, maybe not licking but I was scraping really well. 😉
Happy baking!
Baking in Saskatoon 