Baklava Muffins
Three things come to mind that I thought would be easy for me, but weren’t. One is having children. In my pre-children days, I once told my cousin, who had just had twins, that I knew what he was going through because I was a dog owner. I know. I know. I cringe every time I think about the look on his face. I may have even said during that conversation that I was going to go home and take a long nap. Oh, good God. Two, is blogging. Now don’t get me wrong, I love Project Pastry Love. It’s all I think about (next to my children of course, because they aren’t easy!). I didn’t anticipate, however, how difficult it is to find my voice while blogging, and to really make it my own. But hey, it doesn’t matter because no one is reading it anyway! Thirdly, I am surprised at how hard muffins are. Really surprised. Let me explain. Muffins fall into the Quick Bread category. That makes them quick and you would think easy, but they are a bit of a challenge. Muffins are usually mixed using the Muffin Method. There are two key factors when using the Muffin Method: 1) the fat used is always liquefied; 2) the dry ingredients are barely mixed with the liquid ingredients. The goal is to bake a tender muffin. If you over mix the batter you’ll promote gluten formation which will produce a tougher muffin. You also want a tight crumb, one with no big holes. That’s bad. That’s what I did. These Baklava Muffins are yummy. The muffin itself has slightly sweet, eggy flavor. The top is sweeter with a lovely cinnamon crunch. Pour yourself a cup of coffee with this one.
- 1/2 cup Walnuts, chopped
- 1/3 cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 1/3 tsp. Cinnamon
- 3 TBS. Butter, melted
- 1 cup plus 7 TBS. All-Purpose Flour
- 2 tsp. Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
- 1/4 cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 large Egg
- 3 TBS. unsalted Butter, melted
- 1 cup plus 2 TBS. Buttermilk
- 12-cup muffin pan lined with 12 paper baking cups
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Mix all of the topping ingredients together in a small bowl. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and sugar.
- In a large measuring cup, or medium-sized bowl, whisk the egg, melted butter, and buttermilk.
- Make a well in the dry ingredients, and pour in the liquid.
- Gently mix together. Remember, a lumpy muffin batter is better than a smooth muffin batter!
- Fill the muffin cups 3/4 full, and sprinkle on the topping.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
- When baked, gently transfer the muffins to a wire cooling rack.
- Drizzle with honey and enjoy!
Pour the liquid into the dry ingredients
Hardly mixed muffin batter… I swear!
Fill 3/4 full in each muffin cup and sprinkle on the cinnamon crunch wonderfulness
My Thoughts I really liked the Baklava Muffins. They were easy and quick to make. I know that I did not get them just right, however, because there were big holes in the crumb.
See the large holes? Yeah, that’s not good.
This means I must have over-mixed the batter and created more gluten then needed. Eventually I will get muffins right. In the meantime, I am going to eat the rest of the Baklava Muffins with my 4 year old while playing “pirates fighting vampires and animal hunters”.
