Maple Pecan Muffins

My next bake of the summer combines the ongoing theme of British baking as well as a Canadian flavour. You don't know how hard I just laughed when Blogger told me that was misspelled. It's a Canadian flavour not a Canadian flavor!

The recipe is from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook (an American inspired British Bakery) and I'm determined to try more of these recipes as the ones I've tried previously were slightly lacklustre. The recipe said to mix with an electric mixer but I thought it would be better to do them by hand. Muffins can very easily be over-mixed which leaves an unpleasant texture after baking.
 

Maple Pecan Muffins (from Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook, makes 12)

Ingredients:

-2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

-3/4 cup sugar

-3/4 teaspoon salt

-1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

-1/2 teaspoon baking soda

-1 1/2 cups buttermilk

-1 egg

-1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

-5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

-1 2/3 cups shelled pecans, chopped

-12 pecan halves to decorate

-3/4 cup maple syrup

Preheat oven to 325 F.

Combine flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a medium bowl and mix by hand until evenly dispersed.

In a larger bowl, add buttermilk. egg, and vanilla and whisk by hand. Slowly add the flour mixture, mixing between additions.

Add melted butter and beat. Then add half the maple syrup and all chopped pecans and stir until evenly dispersed. (I found the mixture at this point to be quite wet and doughy)

Evenly spoon the batter into the cupcake liner, about 2/3 full. drizzle remaining maple syrup on top and garnish with a pecan. Bake for 20-30 minutes until golden or a skewer inserted comes out clean.

(before going in the oven)

 Now I'm 98% sure I under-baked the muffins as they were not golden but when I pressed on the top with my finger it did spring back. I did also overfill them (my bad!). I can honestly say that regardless, they were moist and not over-mixed and deliciously sweet.

Okay, so looking back on the photo in the cookbook, I really regret not waiting until they were golden.

The End.

 Anyone else cringing from how bad that ending was?

Just one more thing I'll regret.