We are into the traditional maple syrup making season here in Connecticut. The season usually extends from early February until late March. This year’s mild winter encouraged sap production in the maple trees to start a bit earlier, in late January. The deep freeze of mid-February halted the sap flow for a while, but as it is warming back up, the sap is once again flowing and being collected. The conditions of below freezing nights and above freezing, warm and sunny days that are necessary for the sap to flow throughout the trees are being predicted in the long range weather forecasts. Sugarmakers, (aka maple syrup producers) are busy collecting the sap and boiling off a large portion of the water content, to get from a sugar level of 2% in the sap to 66.5 – 67% in the finished maple product. Maple Season 2016 promises to be a good year for maple sugaring in the Northeast!

I read a food writer’s article a few weeks back about a bakery in Chelsea Market that made phenomenal muffins. The writer was visiting her sister in New York City, and as was their custom, they made a point of going to Sarabeth’s Bakery for pastries. That particular outing was for the maple muffins. The article made me wish I could go to that bakery and sample them, too. Instead, I searched around online for the recipe with the upcoming maple sugaring season in mind. I successfully found the recipe, but was a bit surprised to not find a fancy crumb topping as part of the muffin recipe. I thought all bakery muffins had some sort of crumb topping on them! I made a batch of the muffins, anyway. And while I haven’t taste-tested the bakery’s version of them, the ones I made using the recipe were as good as the article lead me to believe. I’ll be making these again!

Maple Muffins

Maple Muffins (adapted from Sarabeth’s Bakery by Sarabeth Levine)

Time required: about 1 1/2 hours  Yields 16 muffins

Ingredients:

• 2 1⁄4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1⁄4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1⁄2 cups pure maple syrup
• 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1⁄2 cup milk
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
• 1 cup coarsely chopped pecans

Directions:

Place an oven rack in the center of the oven. Toast the chopped pecans at 350º for 5 minutes. Turn the oven up to 400°. Using 2 muffin tins, line 16 wells with paper liners. (Alternately, use cooking spray or brush the insides of 16 wells with some softened butter.)

Combine the flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl and set it aside. Combine the maple syrup, 12 tablespoons of melted butter, and the milk together in the large bowl of a stand mixer, then whisk in the egg and the yolk. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir just until smooth. Stir in the pecans, then let the batter stand for 5 minutes, allowing the dry ingredients to absorb the liquid.

Fold the pecans into the muffin batter.

Portion the batter into the prepared muffin cups.

Scoop the batter into the lined muffin tin.

Bake the muffins for 10 minutes, then decrease the oven temperature to 375° and bake them until the tops of the muffins are golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean, about 15 more minutes.

Cool the muffins in the pan set on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove the muffins from the tin to a wire rack and cool them completely.

Cool the muffins completely on a wire rack.

Serve the muffins at room temperature or warmed with additional butter.

A touch of butter, then warmed . . .

MMM!

MMM-Maple Muffins!  ~Linda

Maple Muffins (adapted from Sarabeth’s Bakery by Sarabeth Levine)

Time required: about 1 1/2 hours  Yields 16 muffins

Ingredients:

• 2 1⁄4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1⁄4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1⁄2 cups pure maple syrup
• 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1⁄2 cup milk
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
• 1 cup coarsely chopped pecans

Directions:

Place an oven rack in the center of the oven. Toast the chopped pecans at 350º for 5 minutes. Turn the oven up to 400°. Using 2 muffin tins, line 16 wells with paper liners. (Alternately, use cooking spray or brush the insides of 16 wells with some softened butter.)

Combine the flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl and set it aside. Combine the maple syrup, 12 tablespoons of melted butter, and the milk together in the large bowl of a stand mixer, then whisk in the egg and the yolk. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir just until smooth. Stir in the pecans, then let the batter stand for 5 minutes, allowing the dry ingredients to absorb the liquid.

Portion the batter into the prepared muffin cups. Bake the muffins for 10 minutes, then decrease the oven temperature to 375° and bake them until the tops of the muffins are golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean, about 15 more minutes.

Cool the muffins in the pan set on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove the muffins from the tin to a wire rack and cool them completely. Serve the muffins at room temperature or warmed with additional butter.