Today’s Maple Pecan Muffins are dedicated to Tracey.
Tracey, you are dear and darling… and 15, which is equal parts hard and rad, I know.
Let me tell you a little about Tracey. Tracey had her 15th birthday last week. Tracey’s best friend Maggie sent me a pretty precious email asking me if I would send Tracey an autographed picture of myself for her birthday. See, Tracey is a great baker and a huuuuge fan of my site.
I’m not the sort to have pictures of myself to autograph on hand… that would be totally weird, so I sent Tracey a little birthday gift and handwritten note. Easy enough, right? In return Tracey sent me a very long, very excited, exceedingly adorable email to thank me for her birthday present. Seriously friends… this girl is priceless.
After reading Tracey’s email a handful of times (it was packed to the gills with information), here are a few things I want you to know about my new friend:
Tracey makes a mean lemon pound cake with blueberry sauce.
Tracey almost set her house ablaze trying to make these doughnuts.
Tracey is obsessed with muffins… and feeds them to her dog. Let’s all just pretend like that’s normal.
Tracey got a “Tracey the Baker” apron for her birthday. Clearly I have competition.
By sharing loads homemade cookies, Tracey is well on her way to becoming the most popular girl in school. Don’t get too popular Tracey… it might be overrated.
Tracey giggles a lot… not in emails, but this is just something I’ve surmised from being 15 and eating a lot of sugar once upon a time.
Tracey? Is that Jesus peeking over your shoulder on your fridge there? If so… awesome. If not… awkward.
Tracey these muffins are my little shout out to you because it seems like you get as excited about eggs and butter and sugar and flour as I do. That makes me happy. Thank you.
Oooh Maple Pecan Muffins. Holy smokes these muffins are good.
Here’s the trick with these muffins: use real maple syrup. Don’t even think about using the pancake syrup you might have hiding in your fridge. No way friend-o!
These muffins are moist, sweet, drenched in maple flavor and just lovely for Autumn. The pecans round out the sweetness and add just the right crunch. Weekend breakfast? Heck yes! You win!
Maple Pecan Muffins
adapted from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook
makes 12-16 cupcakes
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1/2 vanilla bean scraped or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 Tablespoons browned butter (start with 6 tablespoons and melt it down just over 5 Tablespoons)
3/4 cup maple syrup, divided
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans, plus 12 pecan haves (or the largest pecan pieces of the bunch for topping the muffins)
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line a cupcake pan with paper liners and set aside.
In a small saucepan, melt 6 tablespoons of butter over medium flame. Butter should crackle and foam and then produce little brown bits at the bottom of the pan. Turn flame to low, scrape brown bits from the bottom of the pan (that’s where all the flavor is hiding) and remove from heat to cook a bit before using.
In a large bowl sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a small bowl whisk together buttermilk, egg and vanilla bean or extract.
Add the wet ingredients all at once to the dry ingredients and stir with a large spoon until just incorporated. Add melted butter and carefully mix until incorporated. Add the chopped nuts and half of the maple syrup (you can eyeball half of 3/4 cup) and fold until evenly dispersed throughout the batter.
Fill the muffin cups until about two thirds full (I was able to make 16 cupcakes). Place a large pecan piece on top of each unbaked muffin and drizzle all of the muffins with the remaining maple syrup.
Bake muffins for 20-25 minutes or until a metal skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
Allow to cool in the muffin pan for 10 minutes before removing to serve.
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Great post! I had to make these today — the only problem is I’m temporarily on crutches unable to navigate my kitchen — I waited until 10pm for help. This recipe did not disappoint. These are like moist like pancakes and have such a simple flavor. Thanks for such a great muffin recipe. I would love to make these for a holiday breakfast or brunch.
joy, i have a confession.
when you weren’t looking i took a second muffin from the bag on the counter.
i ate two of these. back to back.
don’t judge.
xxr
Oh Joy!! This was such a delight to read !! You must have made her day…let alone year. I’m a stylist and i’ve been telling other lady bakers how great your blog is. My daughter (young mom/baker) and I love chatting about your wonderful recipes. I just laughed and smiled over todays post. Keep being you…YOU are so much fun!
such an amazing post…being a role model for a
15 year old…awesome! off to buy real maple syrup!
Joy, this is awesome! You made her birthday and so much more! And those maple syrup muffins…yummmmmy!
Joy, you have such a sweet spirit. I love to see you do this kind of stuff! It definitely rubs off on people, too. I’m jealous of Tracey and her freakin’ sweet apron. She seems like she has it way more together than I did at 15. (I didn’t realize I could make friends by baking until college.) Kudos to Tracey for being all around awesome, probably because she has an all around awesome role model.
PS- Maple pecan muffins. Glorious. Can’t wait to use this excuse to convince my household to buy a $20 bottle of Vermont’s finest.
What a great story, she seems like a real baker in the making! Those muffins sound delicious: using good quality maple syrup makes you want to never buy the commercial kind again!
hello joy,
love your blog and this recipe!! have a question – can i substitute the egg with something else? maybe apple sauce? if you have any suggestions then please do share.
thank you :)
Happy Birthday Tracey! So cute! Looks like you and Bakerella are both in the wish granting department this week. Did you see the proposal on her site?
These sound awesome and I love that you drizzle syrup on top of the muffin batter.
Oooh. Another trick is to use Grade B maple syrup — it’s more “impure” which translates to better maple flavor + cheaper, so it’s a win win.
I love that Tracey’s your biggest fan, Joy!
I made these last weekend with Grade B Trader Joe’s maple syrup. I was disapointed because there seemed to be NO maple flavor. Is this just because I’m used to the sweet fake stuff?
Joy, your parents gave you the perfect name! That was so sweet of you to spread such joy to Tracey! And to all of us who got to read about it.
I am one of Tracey’s really good friends, we go to school together, you should have seen the look on her face when she opened up your gift! I swear she was about to cry! She brought in these muffins to school today :) When she saw that you posted about her, she walked around with a smile on her face all day!
How cute – it must be nice to know that you have people looking up to you :)
Wow. Joy the Baker is a teen idol! That’s awesome…Tracy, you’re a doll~~Happy Birthday!!
I remember when I used to share with the world that it was my birthday, now it’s just my little secret….
You are tooooo cool and fun! I LOVE your site ~ I just wish baking didn’t cause weight gain…well, I guess the baking part doesn’t…but how can I bake and NOT eat!!! Oh well…
Joy – What a sweet way to make Tracey’s birthday special! This post has made my day.
you’re SO sweet joy!
I’m 15 too! Your blog is cool!
loooooove these! fabulous
It great to know I’m not the only 15 year old who is OBSESSED with baking. When I’m not doing homework (junior year, ugghhhh) I’m in the kitchen baking. I’m actually really grateful. This year i was given the opportunity to bake even more because my mom brings the things i bake, after i taste them of course, to work and sells them and the money goes to charity. Of course, i share some with my friends too (and maybe taste more than just one myself). ;)
I love it! I wish I was baking at 15 but I’m glad to be sharing my love for it now with my 10 year old daughter. What a great post! Happy birthday Tracey!
Thanks so much Joy for helping me! ( and for putting up with my awkward emails!!) You are so sweet!
I made these muffins for my neighbors this weekend as a thank you… and ended up eating 2 before they were even packaged. These were very good and very easy. A great way to begin a relaxing Sunday morning. Thanks for the recipe!
This made my day and lifted my heart! I’m putting together a cooking class for young mom’s right now and I hope that I can inspire them to get into the kitchen like this young lady. I love your blog and it always makes me smile when I need one! Thanks…
Thanks for the great ideas Joy! My mother, Deanna Glancy, made those Maple Pecan Muffins the other night. Mmmm!
awesome chelsea! i’m so glad you liked them! your mom is the best!
I could not agree more Joy! :)
Having some friends over on Sunday and these are definitely on the menu!
These muffins look amazing! I cannot wait to make them myself. The pictures make my mouth water!
Just took these out of the oven – they are delicious! Tastes like pancakes with maple syrup…but a little different. Very nice with the brown butter step. I will definitely be making these again! =)
I have made the original Hummingbird version of these a few times, and they are A-MAZ-ING. The pecan half on top is like a little piece of heaven. Shame that the pecans and maple syrup are so expensive so I can’t afford to make them that often.
I like to blast a muffin in the microwave for a few seconds and eat it with coffe for breakfast. What, muffins are totally a breakfast food.
These look awesome! Any ideas on how I could convert these into cupcakes instead? I’m thinking about turning these into a dessert I can ice for the holidays since my mom bought some new icing tools.
These are SO heavenly! I used Pamela’s GF baking & pancake mix and replaced the buttermilk with homemade kefir. Worked beautifully! My hubby said they were the best muffins he’s ever had. I’d have to agree :) yum yum!
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