Pumpkin Maple Muffins

These muffins are worthy of that last can of pumpkin sitting in your cupboard! I found this recipe on the New York Times Cooking website. After reading the comments, I decided to cut the brown sugar and maple syrup in half – with great success! The muffins are sweet, but not overly so, allowing for the caramel notes from the browned butter to shine. Next time, I may add chocolate chips, a crumble on top, or a little cayenne to the batter. Because, there WILL be a next time…

Yield: 12 muffins or 48 mini muffins

Ingredients:

• ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 ½ cups pumpkin purée (about 1 15-ounce can)
• 3 large eggs
• ½ cup light brown sugar
• 1/3 cup maple syrup

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray muffin pans with nonstick spray or line them with paper liners.
2. Heat butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, swirling occasionally, until the butter has melted, foamed and started to brown, about 5 minutes. Use a spatula to scrape up any browned bits at the bottom of the pot. Remove from heat and set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, turmeric and nutmeg.
4. In a large bowl, whisk together pumpkin, eggs, brown sugar and maple syrup until totally smooth. Stir in dry ingredients, followed by browned butter.
5. Divide among prepared muffin tins and bake until the tops are puffed and spring back slightly when pressed. Bake full-size muffins 20 to 25 minutes. Bake mini-muffins 11 to 12 minutes.

Adapted from NY Times Cooking