I'm Baklava!

I mean, I'm back! I haven't had a much better excuse for not blogging than laziness. School and work keeps me busy. If you ever stop by my personal blog, you know that my boss died a few days after Thanksgiving. I'm still working at the office for now, while we try to wrap things up with his wife. I got a new part time job, blogging for a local furniture company (visit us over here). And, funnily enough, I've been cooking up a storm. I hosted my family for Thanksgiving this year. Pinterest has provided a plethora of recipes to try, too. So, rather than let this little space of cyberstuff that I've cobbled together over the years flitter away, I decided I better get back to sharing the bits and bobs that I've been making in the kitchen. Probably won't be all that often, but a little is better than nothing, right?

This morning I made these yummy Baklava Muffins. I found the recipe through Pinterest, but it's from one of my old blog reads, Culinary Concoctions by Peabody. I needed to use up some buttermilk I bought earlier in the week, and I had leftover chopped walnuts from a cheeseball I made for the holidays. This recipe was an ideal use for both of those ingredients. These turned out deliciously. Definitely be sure to not over mix the batter, because these come out so light with such a delicate crumb thanks to a gentle hand.

Baklava Muffins
Recipe from Nigella Lawson via Culinary Concoctions By Peabody, Makes 1 dozen

for the filling:
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons melted butter

for the muffins:
1 cup plus 7 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk

for the topping:
1/2 cup honey

• Preheat to 400F.
• Mix all the filling ingredients together in a small bowl, and then start the muffins. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and sugar. In a wide-mouthed measuring cup, whisk the egg, melted butter, and buttermilk. Make a well in the dry ingredients, pour in the liquid, and mix lightly and gently, remembering to keep it lumpy rather then going all-out for smooth: anything more than the gentlest handling makes for a heavy muffin.
• Fill the muffin cups 1/3 full, add scant TBSP of filling, then cover with more muffin mixture until 2/3 full. Sprinkle any remaining filling on top of the muffin
• Bake for 15 minutes. Put the muffins, still in their paper cups, onto a rack and drizzle with honey.

My notes: I made sure to keep whisking as I slowly added the melted butter to the buttermilk and egg, and even as I slowly poured it into dry ingredients I kept the whisk moving. It helped to make sure it actually got incorporated well, instead of just clumping up in the colder milk.