Maple Waffle Muffins

Making waffles is not something we wake up and make on a work day unless you can satisfy yourself with an Eggo frozen waffle. These muffins make waffles on the run possible and can even be frozen and warmed up with a quick zap of the microwave. How close are they to the real thing. Honestly, they are close in flavor but just not the same. The cornmeal gives it some grit and I am not sure that it is the texture that I would expect in a waffle but they have a nice crisp exterior much like a waffle. Think corn muffin and you will get the idea (note that my picture above is a corn muffin as I can’t seem to locate my picture from back in February). I will let you be the judge.

This recipe is originally from a Cuisine at home and I must share my story on the challenge to get from recipe to first bite. You will note that the recipe calls for malt powder. Ok so I thought I have malt powder but that turned out to be malted milk powder. Further investigation found that malt powder is a flour that comes in two versions; Diastatic and non-diastatic. Note that the original recipe does not specify which one. Diastatic is an ingredient found in breads for browner crusts and texture where the other version is used in bagels. Which is the right one I still don’t know. Needless to say I went on a journey to find one or the other. In all of the Norther Virginia area I could not find either. Finally I found both at the King Arthur Flour website but that would take some time to get here. I needed a substitute and decided to add 1 tbsp of honey to the buttermilk mixture instead. I now have both malt powders in hand and will report back on what if any difference it made. On a final note, any coarse sugar will do for the glaze if you can’t find turbinado but make sure you have pure grade A maple syrup for the glaze.

Recipe

Maple Waffle Muffins

Muffins
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup malt powder
1/4 cup Cornmeal
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 sticks unsalted butter, melted
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, separated
2 tsp vanilla extract

Glaze
2 Tbs pure maple sugar
2 tsp turbinado sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 400F. Use a nonstick spray to coat the mini muffin pans.

2. Place the flour, malt powder, cornmeal, baking powder and salt in a large bowl and whisk until combined.

3. In a medium size bowl whisk the butter (cooled), buttermilk, granulated sugar, egg yolks and vanilla together until well blended.

4. In another bowl whip the egg whites until you have medium peaks.

5. Slowly pour the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture stirring continuously until blended. A stand mixer on low speed will work well.

6. Fold the egg whites into the batter until only thin white streaks are visible. Place 2 heaping tsp. into each muffin tin.

7. Bake the muffins for about 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

8. Mix the maple syrup and turbinado sugar in a small bowl. Brush onto the muffins and return to the oven for 3 more minutes. Remove from oven and serve warm.

Servings: 18
Yield: 36

Oven Temperature: 400°F