I could have sworn up and down that I hated maple, until I met these mini muffins. I find that maple is one of those particular flavors that people love or hate. Like black licorice, grape candy, the consistency of cottage cheese or fennel. The fact that it's a natural sweetener, makes me feel like I should like it, but it's just not for me. Hugh is pro-maple so I figured if we made these and I hated them, at least someone would eat them. I hoarded a majority of them.
There is an entire cup of real maple syrup in the recipe, which sounds like a lot, but with all the dense flours, the strength of it dissipates. I used a pretty lengthy list of ingredients, but if you don't think you'll ever use a whole bag of buckwheat flour, try to find a store that sells flours/grains in bulk and you can buy just what you need by weight. Or, as I've suggested before, make extra and give some away. I mean, they taste pretty healthy for a muffin, but it's January, people are into that sort of thing.
MULTIGRAIN MAPLE MINI MUFFINS// Makes 12 or 24 Minis
1/2 Cup Buckwheat Flour
1/2 Cup Unbleached All Purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Wheat Bran
1/2 Cup Oatmeal (plus extra for garnish)
1 Tbsp. Cinnamon
1 Tsp. Fresh Grated Nutmeg (if you have it)
1 Tsp. Salt
1 Tbsp. Fresh Grated Ginger
1 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp. Baking Soda
2 Large Eggs
1 Cup Real Maple Syrup
1 Cup Buttermilk
2 Tsp. Vanilla Extract
1/2 Cup Lowfat Cottage Cheese (I blended mine up a tad, but this is optional)
1 Cup Pecan Pieces, divided
Oven at 350'
1. In a large mixing bowl, sift all flours, the baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt together. Grate the ginger right on top. Spray or butter your muffin tins and set aside.
2. In two other bowls, seperate the egg yolks from the whites. In the bowl with the yolks, add the maple, vanilla and buttermilk and whisk to combine. Beat or use an electric mixer to whip up the egg whites until they just start to hold shape.
3. Mix the wet into the dry ingredients until just combined. Add the cottage cheese and 1/2 cup of the pecan pieces and gently fold in. Lastly, just before you're ready to put batter into the tins, fold in the whipped egg whites. Because the dough is somewhat heavy, try to fold from the outside of the bowl in, to not deflate the egg whites.
4. The mini tins hold about two spoonfuls of mix, if using larger tins, fill them about 3/4 full. Sprinkle the top with a few chopped pecans and a few oat flakes. Bake on the middle rack for 20-23 minutes (cooking times may vary depending on tin). Remove and cool. I recommend a little spread of plain greek yogurt.