Happy 2013 to all my lovely readers!
At the end of last year I was browsing through some of my baking books and recipes that I cut out of newspapers and magazines.
While browsing through these recipes, I realized that I do not make a lot of muffins; at least in 2012 I made hardly any muffins. I have no idea why because I have an impressive selection of cute muffin cups.
So to start off the New Year I made some walnut muffins which contain no granulated sugar but honey and maple syrup and no wheat flour but whole wheat flour. I guess the muffins are a little “healthier” than any regular chocolate muffins and these walnut muffins taste delicious.
A recipe would not be complete without a bakingwithmarianne advice: do not substitute the walnuts with hazelnuts or almonds. I have done this in the past but this was not a good idea because the muffins turned out very bitter. I do not have an exact explanation for it but I think the combination of orange zest and almonds or hazelnuts made the muffins bitter.
Oh and one more word: I am a little bit obsessed with instagram and if you like you can follow me there. My user name is bakingwithmarianne. I post a lot of food pictures (are you surprised?) but photos of my every day life as well.
Makes 20 muffins

INGREDIENTS

  • 100 g walnut flour
  • 100 g whole rye flour
  • 100 g whole wheat flour
  • 2 teaspoons of baking powder
  • 5 teaspoons of unsweetened cacao powder
  • 1½ teaspoons of vanilla extract
  • Zest of one organic/untreated orange, finely grated
  • 150 g unsalted butter, soft
  • 175 g honey
  • 75 g maple syrup
  • 3 eggs, medium size
  • 50 g roughly chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS

  • Preheat the oven to 180 °C.
  • Mix the walnut flour, whole rye flour and whole walnut flour, baking powder, 4 teaspoons of unsweetened cacao, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and zest of ½ orange.
  • Whisk the butter, 150 g honey and maple syrup until fluffy. Then add one egg at a time.
  • Add the flour mixture to the batter and mix until all ingredients are well incorporated.
  • Line a muffin pan with muffin cups and pour the batter into the muffin cups.
  • Mix the chopped walnuts, ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract, zest of ½ an orange, 25 g honey.
  • Put the walnut mixture in the middle of each muffin.
  • Bake the muffins for 15 to 20 minutes.
  • You can keep the muffins in an airtight container or in a tin and the muffins stay fresh for up to three days. I even found the muffins taste better a day. 

The recipe is adapted from the baking book "Kuchen und Torten" by Annette Wolter, GU  which is my first baking book that I received for my 11th birthday.