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Maple is synonymous with fall in my humble opinion. And my love affair with the flavor runs deep having grown up on maple bar donuts. It is a privilege to get to live where the maple trees grow. If you have never been to a maple syrup farm, put that on your bucket list, the sap runs in March and it’s so fun to watch the sap collecting and being boiled down to the delicious treat we drizzle on our favorite foods. So in honor of this goodness, I’ve created maple crumble muffins with a maple butter glaze that is just so good.

For this recipe I used the most robust and dark maple syrup I could get my hands on because this gives you the richest maple flavor, try your darnedest to find some or order it from our favorite maple farm, Sugarbush Farm in Woodstock, Vt. They ship it all over the country. I used the Grade A Very Dark Strong Taste. You can see the years of our visits to this farm on one of our Vermont Trip Posts, an annual pilgrimage for us. We’re headed up to Stowe in two days so stay tuned for some annual Vermont fun over on Instagram.

Some notes about the recipe: Often in muffin recipes I use a walnut oil or sunflower oil but I opted to use melted butter this time around for the flavor add given I was not using a single spice or extract. I wanted the richness of the butter because it marries beautifully with the real maple flavor (no artificial maple flavoring here).

COCONUT SUGAR

In the crumb topping I used coconut sugar. I use this often as a 1:1 replacement for sugar cane (ie granulated sugar or brown sugar in recipes). It has the flavor of brown sugar (zero coconut-y flavor) but retains nutrients unlike table sugar, most notably minerals like iron, calcium and zinc as well as inulin, a fiber which gives it a lower glycemic index than table sugar. This means it raises your blood sugar less quickly and my kiddos don’t turn into sugar wackos so fast. We’re not anti-anything in our home but when given the opportunity, I’m always going to try for the more nutrient-rich option. Try it and see how you like it and know this is not sponsored in any way. Just one mom and her masters degree in nutrition passing along an alternative.

INGREDIENTS

1 3/4 C White Whole Wheat Flour

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Salt

2 Large Eggs

1/2 C Salted Butter, (1 Stick) melted

6 oz (1 container) Plain Greek Yogurt (we use the Kite Hill almond milk yogurt)

3/4 C Very Dark and Robust Maple Syrup

 

Crumble Topping

1/2 C All Purpose Flour

2 Tbsp Coconut Sugar

2 Tbsp Salted Butter

Pinch of Salt

1/8 C Maple Syrup

 

Maple Butter Glaze

1/2 C Powder Sugar

1 Tbsp Salted Butter melted

Drizzle of Maple Syrup

INSTRUCTIONS

Heat your oven to 350 degrees and lightly spray a muffin pan with oil or brush with melted butter. I love the avocado spray at Trader Joes or the 100% olive oil one at Target. Use paper muffin tins if you’d like them. I didn’t this time around because I knew they wouldn’t last long and kiddos were going to be eating them for breakfast.

In a small mixing bowl add your dry ingredients and stir to combine–flour, Baking Powder, Baking Soda, and Salt.

In a large mixing bowl, combine eggs, oil, and your maple syrup and stir until well incorporated. Add in your dry ingredients and stir just to combine. Fold in your Greek yogurt and set aside while you mix up the crumble topping.

In a small bowl mix together the flour, pinch of salt and coconut sugar. Using a fork mix in the softened butter and maple syrup until you get a piece meal consistency. Note with the maple syrup this is a stickier crumb but the flavor is yummy.

Fill the muffin tins 3/4 of the way full and top generously with the crumb topping. Bake for 12-14 minutes until lightly browned or a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Don’t over bake them. Let cool a bit before you add the glaze or you end up with a melty mess.

For the glaze you’ll mix together some powder sugar (I’ve pondered putting the coconut sugar in a food processor to get the same powdered consistency but haven’t tried that yet) with the butter and maple syrup, whisking until the lumps are out. You want it to not be too runny, thicken it if needed with more powder sugar.

They’re just so good, especially warm with a cup of tea and some rain falling on the crunchy leaves. Mmmm fall, can you taste it?

Thank you Ruthie of Ruth Eileen Photography for capturing these delicious fall treatsI hope you try these and let me know what you think! Join my friends below on this fall baking blog hop.