Spiced Fig Muffins

Tender spiced fig muffins that are slightly crispy on the outside from real butter, spiced with mace and cardamom and studded with fruit.

I admit I’m kind of old school when it comes to muffins. Grocery store muffins that are basically cake for breakfast may have their place, but I like a muffin that’s tender and moist on the inside and slightly crispy on the outside bolstered by coarse sugar sprinkled on top.  This is the kind of muffin I grew up with. I feel like they only had blueberry muffins back then. And maybe banana nut.

Feel free to substitute dried plums or raisins. Raisins are especially good if you plump them first in juice or even just water. This makes them bigger and more flavorful. If you have trouble with cookies, muffins, and other baked goods rising inconsistently, buy fresh baking powder and keep it in the freezer. I’m currently using Bob’s Red Mill Baking Powder because it doesn’t have aluminum which is frequently used as a preservative in baking powder. It came in a big bag and even I don’t go through it that fast which is another reason I keep it in the freezer. I store it, and baking soda, in pint size mason jars to keep them airtight and from picking up any freezer odors.

You might be a blueberry muffin purist, or a dedicated banana nut  fan, so this muffin might be a little out of your flavor profile, but take the plunge, you will love the spices. If you are in a breakfast rut these muffins  will definitely break you out of it.

Then we’ll save our cake for when it has frosting.

Spiced Fig Muffins

 

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Prep Time

5 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

25 mins

 

Feel free to substitute dried plums or raisins. Raisins are especially good if you plump them first in juice or even just water.

Author: Chef Shelley

Recipe type: Breakfast Muffin

Serves: 12

Ingredients

• Batter
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 ¼ cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoons baking soda
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon mace, or freshly grated nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon cardamom
• 1 ½ cups dried figs, chopped into raisin size or a little bigger
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 cup sour cream
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Topping
• 2 tablespoons coarse sugar like turbinado, raw or sparkling sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. Butter twelve ½ cup muffin cups or use paper liners.
3. For batter, sift first seven ingredients into a mixing bowl. Stir in figs.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk egg and yolk together. Whisk in sour cream, melted butter, milk and vanilla. Pour into mixing bowl with flour mixture and stir together until just combined. Batter will be thick.
5. Fill muffin cups about ¾ full. Sprinkle with coarse sugar.
6. Bake until wooden pick or tester comes out clean about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and turn them out of muffin pan onto a rack to cool.

Notes

I haven’t tried it but you can probably substitute plain greek yogurt for the sour cream. Substituting a different fat for the butter will affect the texture but they will still be good, just different.

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