Brown Sugar Maple Muffins

Wow, are these good?

How do I know?  Well, I bake muffins all the time.  Usually, I set them out to cool, pack them in containers or in the freezer, and never have any myself.  These though.....

Yum.  The kids now have one fewer muffin to eat.

The recipe is great as is (here)- I added 1 cup chopped walnuts for protein, but left the rest alone.  It makes for a lovely, neutral light muffin.  For more body, earthiness and oomph, I would suggest adding 1 tsp of cinnamon to the batter, along with the dry ingredients.  Maybe a little nutmeg too.

One other change... Every muffin recipe baked in my home prior to this one was put into the oven in standard metal muffin tins, lined with decorative cupcake papers.  Cute, but the cheap liners allow oil to seep through, so the design is never as adorable after you bake as before.  And I once had individual silicone muffin cups, but the fluting did not allow the baked goods to release cleanly.

Enter silicone muffin pans.

*Cue angels singing*

Fantastic.  No need to grease the pans, the the muffins nearly jumped out of their little muffin holes when cooked.

I highly recommend them-- I have a set similar to the link above, although I bought them at a garage sale for $5.  :-)