Monthly Muffin: Maple Syrup Muffins

According to Epicurious there is only one seasonal ingredient in February in Virginia or Maryland... and that would be maple syrup! Who doesn't love maple syrup? I set forth to make the following muffin.

If you're like me, you love pancakes, but you rarely make them. They're delicious, but who has time to make them from scratch in the morning? We could make a lot on the weekend, but if you've had great success in saving pancake batter or reheating pancakes I'd like to hear about it. Pancakes are one of those things I hate to have leftovers of... so what to do? Maple syrup muffins! They keep well, they're portable, you can make a bunch at once and they taste like a maple syrup heavy pancake without feeling sticky after.

Maple Syrup Muffins

Prep time: 30-35 minutes | Yields: 9-10 muffins

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup Butter, softened
• 1/4 cup Brown sugar
• 1 Egg
• 1/2 cup Milk
• 1/2 cup Maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1 1/2 cups Flour
• 2 teaspoons Baking powder
• 3/4 cup Oatmeal
• 1 tablespoon Oatmeal (for topping)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl mix together butter, sugar and egg.
3. In separate bowl or measuring cup mix together milk and syrup. Combine with other wet goods.
   
4. In a third bowl mix salt, flour, baking powder together.
5. Add dry ingredients to wet. Stir to combine, but do not mix beyond that.
6. Add oatmeal, again stir just to combine.
   
7. Fill non-stick greased muffin tins with batter. I recommend only fill them about 2/3rds to 3/4th of the way. (As you can see, my muffins grew like crazy!)
8. Top with remaining oatmeal.
   
9. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in a muffin comes out clean.
   
10. Let cool on a rack
    

Sweet Potato Muffins Take 2: Sweet Potatoes Muffin En Fuego

Fall is succumbing to winter here and so to keep warm I present to you the Sweet Potato Muffin En Fuego!

A few days ago I gave you the first installment of what will be Monthly Muffin. Almost immediately after making the Sweet Potato Muffin, I had the idea of making a savory spicy version of them. Inspired by Alton Brown's Chipotle Smashed Sweet Potatoes, I set forth on converting my sweet sweet potato muffins to Sweet Potato Muffins En Fuego!

To do this first I reduced the brown sugar to 4 tablespoons or 1/4 cup from the original 1/2 cup because while I was aiming for spicy/savory I didn't want to venture too fair away from delicious flavor the original muffin. Then I added 2 tablespoons each of chipotle chili powder and cayenne pepper. I picked the chipotle for the same reason Alton Brown did: chipotles are smoked jalapeños so not only do they add some heat they also add a slight hint of smokiness. Finally I added 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper.

Knowing this muffin would carry a kick and hoping it would be able to function as a side in a meal, I also made a Cinnamon Brown Sugar butter. The butter adds a nice little sweetness to it and helps with the heat, but is totally optional.

Three important notes on this recipe:

1. Last time I forgot to make or add the topping Pioneer Woman used in her pumpkin muffins. I highly recommend it for these. The extra sugar in both the butter and the topping help with the heat without masking it.

2. Both times I did not have ground ginger on hand and was worried about using fresh for baking so I cannot actually vouch for how the ginger will taste, but I still suggest it. In both versions ginger should be right at home!

3. In the recipe before I am going to suggest different amounts of brown sugar and spice than I did above. The way I made them came out with a really strong kick.

Sweet Potato Muffins En Fuego

Prep Time: 20 Minutes | Cook Time: 25 Minutes | Servings: 10-12

Ingredients

Muffin Ingredients:

• 1 cup All-purpose Flour
• 6 tablespoons Brown Sugar
• 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1 tablespoon Cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoons Ground Ginger
• ½ teaspoons Nutmeg
• teaspoons Salt
• ½ teaspoons Ground Black Pepper
• 1 tablespoons Ground Cayenne Pepper (a.k.a. Ground Red Pepper)
• 1 tablespoons Chipotle Chili Powder (you can also use plain Chili Powder or other Chili Powders)
  
• 4 tablespoons Butter, softened
• 1 cup (heaping) Sweet Potato Puree (mashed/blended sweet potatoes. I don't think this comes canned!)
• ½ cups Evaporated Milk
• 1 whole Egg
• 1-½ teaspoon Vanilla

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Topping

• 2 Tablespoons Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoons Nutmeg

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For butter:

• ½ cups Butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons Heavy Cream
• 1 tablespoon Cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons Brown Sugar

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Generously grease 12 muffin tins.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, salt, pepper, cayenne and chipotle. Mix in butter until it is fully incorporated. In a separate bowl, mix together sweet potato, evaporated milk, egg, and vanilla. Pour sweet potato mixture into the flour mixture. Fold gently until mixture is just combined.

Pour into a greased muffin pan—batter hardly ever fills all twelve unless you keep it down to 1/2 full. Sprinkle with remaining cinnamon-sugar-nutmeg mixture over the top of each unbaked muffin.

Bake for 25 minutes. Allow to cool in pan for 15 minutes, then remove and allow to cool. Ice with cream cheese frosting.

Optional Butter:

Using a mixer or food processor, mix ingredients together. If you like the really soft whipped butter you can let it continue for an extra minute or two. Depending how soft the butter is, you might need to finish mixing manually. Store in fridge and use on muffins or anything else! I also used it on pancakes with maple syrup. Yum!

As always I'd love your thoughts, suggestions and other feedback. At the very least let me know if you tried them.

Monthly Muffin: Sweet Potato Muffins

This is the first of hopefully many "Monthly Muffin" posts. Each month I am going to consult with Epicurious's Seasonal Ingredient Map. My rule of thumb is if a farmer is willing to drive to a farmer's market to sell his or her product then the area they hail from is local enough for me. In DC we often get farmers from Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. After selecting seasonal ingredient(s) from one of these states I am going to find or create a muffin recipe for that season and share it with y'all.

This month sweet potatoes are the only seasonal ingredient in Maryland. That worked well for me because I was craving pumpkin muffins and sweet potato while providing a unique flavor, is typically a good substitute for pumpkin. So why trek out to Pennsylvania for pumpkin when my neighbor has sweet potatoes?

I was set on using Smitten Kitchen's recipe for pumpkin muffins, which I am sure are fantastic, but my friend Jane recommend Pioneer Woman's recipe--also for pumpkin muffins. If you're a die hard fan of the pumpkin, I surely plan to do these again with the intended ingredient.

Pioneer Woman used a cupcake style batter, but the s.p. adds some density that certainly makes me think muffin. She does though suggest a cream cheese frosting. I do NOT subscribe to the logic that frosting=cupcakes, but in this case it does push these more toward cupcake land. Frosting was nice, but totally unnecessary.

These muffins were moist, sweet, but not overkill that vaguely reminded me of my mom's sweet potato casserole (sans marshmallows). I can easily see this as breakfast or dessert. MY CHANGES: Aside from swapping pumpkin for sweet potato I also doubled the cinnamon (since I love cinnamon and almost always do this) and used brown sugar rather than white. I also misplaced my nutmeg so this time there was none. I also omitted the golden raisins. I may add them in next time, but I wanted to experience the spices and s.p. all by itself.

Moist Sweet Potato Spice Muffin (adapted from Pioneer Woman)

Prep Time: 20 Minutes | Cook Time: 25 Minutes | Servings: 10-12

Ingredients

Muffin Ingredients:

• 1 cup All-purpose Flour
• ½ cups Brown Sugar
• 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1 tablespoon Cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoons Ground Ginger
• ½ teaspoons Nutmeg
• ½ teaspoons Salt
• 4 Tablespoons Butter,
• 1 cup (heaping) Sweet Potato Puree (mashed/blended sweet potatoes. I don't think this comes canned!)
• ½ cups Evaporated Milk
• 1 whole Egg
• 1-½ teaspoon Vanilla

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Topping

• 2 Tablespoons Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoons Nutmeg

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For frosting:

• ¼ cups Softened Butter
• 4 ounces, weight Cream Cheese
• ½ pounds Powdered Sugar
• ½ teaspoons Vanilla

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Generously grease 12 muffin tins.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Mix in butter until it is fully incorporated. In a separate bowl, mix together sweet potato, evaporated milk, egg, and vanilla. Pour pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture. Fold gently until mixture is just combined.

Pour into a greased muffin pan—batter hardly ever fills all twelve unless you keep it down to 1/2 full. Sprinkle with remaining cinnamon-sugar-nutmeg mixture over the top of each unbaked muffin.

Bake for 25 minutes. Allow to cool in pan for 15 minutes, then remove and allow to cool. Ice with cream cheese frosting.

Optional frosting (I actually prefer without):

Mix all ingredients on high until soft and whipped. Spread onto completely cooled muffins, or place into a large pastry bag with a large star tip and go crazy! Store in the fridge, as icing will soften at room temperature.

I actually preferred it without icing, but I wanted to try it out.