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Maple Muffins

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Sweetened entirely with maple syrup, these divine maple muffins fill your kitchen with the most intoxicating buttery-maple scent as they bake.

Muffin tin of maple muffins in front of a cookbook.

Whenever I visit my sister in NYC, we walk over to Sarabeth’s Bakery in Chelsea Market, the massive foodie mecca housed in the former Nabisco factory near her apartment. I’m not one for crowds — in fact, my sister teases me that I’m a hermit — but I’ll brave the throngs of hungry tourists for breakfast at Sarabeth’s because they have some of the best baked goods on the planet. These maple muffins are from Sarabeth’s Bakery: From My Hands to Yours. They are wonderful.

In the book, Sarabeth writes: “This recipe was literally forced upon me by a customer who said her family had made these muffins for more than a hundred years. She promised they would be fantastic, and she was right!” I love them because they are sweetened entirely with maple syrup — there’s absolutely no sugar in them. And as they bake in the oven, they fill your kitchen with the most intoxicating buttery maple scent.

What You’ll Need To Make Maple Muffins

Muffin ingredients including butter, eggs, and milk.

While Grade A maple syrup works fine too, I prefer Grade B for the muffins was it has a more intense maple flavor.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Begin by combining the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, salt, and baking powder. I always place the ingredients in the bowl so I can see them — this way, I don’t forget what I’ve already added, which unfortunately happens all too often!

Bowl of unmixed dry ingredients.

Whisk the dry ingredients together and set aside.

Whisk in a bowl of dry ingredients.

In another bowl, whisk together the melted butter and maple syrup.

Whisk in a bowl of butter and syrup.

Whisk in the milk, followed by the eggs and egg yolk.

Eggs pouring into a bowl of syrup mixture.

Add the dry ingredients to the liquid ingredients.

Whisk in a bowl of muffin batter.

Stir in the nuts, if using.

Nuts in a bowl with muffin batter.

Let the mixture sit for about 5 minutes, while you grease the pan. Then fill the muffin cups with the batter.

Muffin tin full of maple muffin batter.

Bake at 400°F for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 375°F and bake 15 minutes more. Let the muffins cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then remove from the pan and serve warm.

Muffin tin of maple muffins in front of a cookbook.

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Maple Muffins

Sweetened entirely with maple syrup, these divine maple muffins fill your kitchen with the most intoxicating buttery-maple scent as they bake.

Servings: 12 muffins
Prep Time: 20 Minutes
Cook Time: 25 Minutes
Total Time: 45 Minutes

Ingredients

  • 2¼ cups all purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off with a knife
  • ¾ cup whole wheat flour, spooned into measuring cup an leveled-off with a knife
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1½ cups pure maple syrup, preferably Grade B (Grade A works fine too)
  • 12 tablespoons (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, melted
  • ½ cup whole milk
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted if desired (optional)
  • Softened unsalted butter, for greasing the pan

Instructions

  1. Set a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 400°F.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together the all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
  3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the maple syrup and melted butter. Whisk in the milk, followed by the egg and egg yolk. Add to the dry ingredients and whisk until just smooth. Stir in the walnuts, if using. Let the batter rest for 5 minutes.
  4. Meanwhile, grease the muffin pan generously with softened butter (see my note about the muffin pan below).
  5. Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared pan. The cups will be almost full. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 375°F and bake for about 15 minutes more, or until the muffins are golden and a cake tester inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
  6. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove muffins from the pan. Serve warm with butter, or place on a rack to cool.
  7. Note: My only quibble with this recipe is that the muffins tend to stick to the pan. I found that letting them cool for only 5 minutes (instead of the recommended 10) helped them release more easily. If they stick, take a butter knife or offset spatula and run it around the edges; and instead of pulling the muffins out of the pan, turn the pan over and knock it gently on the counter until the muffins drop out. Or, use paper liners and call it a day (but still butter the top of the pan!). I also found that the recipe is perfect for 12 muffin cups without the nuts; when you add the nuts, the muffins run into each other a bit, making them difficult to remove. So, if you're adding the nuts, you might want to bake the muffins in two pans, filling 6 cups in one pan and 7 in the other, for a total of 13 muffins.
  8. Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The muffins can be frozen in an airtight container or sealable plastic bag for up to 3 months. Thaw for 3 – 4 hours on the countertop before serving. To reheat, wrap individual muffins in aluminum foil and place in a preheated 350°F oven until warm.

Nutrition Information

Powered by Edamam

  • Per serving (12 servings)
  • Calories: 332
  • Fat: 13g
  • Saturated fat: 8g
  • Carbohydrates: 51g
  • Sugar: 24g
  • Fiber: 1g
  • Protein: 5g
  • Sodium: 206mg
  • Cholesterol: 62mg

This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.

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Comments

  • Made 6 jumbo muffins, just added 5 extra minutes to the cook time and they came out golden, buttery, and delicious. I used a generous amount of butter in the muffin tin and I was able to lift them out after 5’minutes by just picking them up (no knife needed). Another favorite recipe of yours – I highly recommend!

    • — Ingrid on March 27, 2023
    • Reply
  • These muffins have a wonderful maple taste. You have to use dark maple syrup to get it right. I live in Quebec, so I know what good maple products taste like 😉. They are perfect for this time of year, when maple production is starting up.

    • — Valerie on April 4, 2022
    • Reply
  • These are the best muffins! I love baking muffins, and if you do too, you must try!! I added a tsp of vanilla extract and a maple glaze on top. They are so moist, perfect and delicious!

  • Just made this recipe using jumbo muffin tins and it made 6 perfect muffins.

    In regards to the note about sticking to the pan, I recommend trying a super thin coating of cake goop. I did that with mine and they turned out beautifully…not a single crumb stuck to the pan.

  • My family loved these! They were super easy to make and the perfect accompaniment to frittata for Christmas brunch. Be warned: they are not very sweet (which my family appreciated).

  • Best muffins ever!

    I’ve been making these muffins for almost six years now, they never disappoint. My older son used to be a very picky eater, you could barely feed him anything.
    I accidentally came across Jenn’s website (probably while looking for some ideas for a picky eater – toddler) and never looked back, my son loved the muffins (and for that matter every other Jenn’s recipe) !
    Nowadays I make them for both of my boys, my younger son is a toddler now and he also loves them.

    P.S. I read in the reviews that a lot of you complain about a “buttery taste” to the muffins, you can also make them with olive oil ( ~ 1/2 cup of olive oil ) it turns out great as well.

    Thank you Jenn!

    • — Aleksandra Isakovic
    • Reply
  • This was the newest of your recipes that I made. My husband and I both loved the muffins. Just the right amount of sweetness and they came out perfect. I made mini muffins instead of full size.

  • I didn’t like these at all. No flavor and they were super dry. I followed the recipe to a T. Very disappointed.

  • Can I use dark brown sugar and maple syrup together? Maple is too expensive for me.

    • Sure, Joyce, I’d replace 1 cup of the syrup with an equal amount of brown sugar. Hope that helps and that you enjoy! 🙂

  • I just made these and had to immediately leave an extremely positive review! They are delicious, slid right out of the pan no problem and taste unbelievable! I cant beileve I made something that tastes this good! 100000000% reccomend

  • i would like to use a mix of brown sugar and maple syrup, please advise how much brown sugar i should use if i halved the maple syrup? it is just too expensive!

    • Hi Kim, I think you can substitute 1 cup of brown sugar for 1 cup of the syrup without making any other adjustments. Hope that helps and that you enjoy!

  • It was not good – And I find most of your recipes delicious

  • Hi Jenn, I’ve made this recipe before as muffins and loved it. Made 8 jumbo. Now I’m baking it as a 9″x 3″x 5” loaf pan. After the 10 minutes at 400F I will lower the oven temperature to 350 F for 20 minutes and will test. Fingers crossed it will work. Any suggestion on this change? Thank you.

    • — Judith Boroniec
    • Reply
    • I think that sounds like a good plan, Judith – please LMK how it turns out!

  • I read the reviews before making these and thought the people saying they were too buttery must be crazy, as that isn’t really possible..but…I think they might be too buttery! I can’t comment on the maple flavor as I used papaya syrup instead, but despite the amount the papaya flavor is also very mild. I will probably drizzle more papaya syrup and top with powdered sugar to make it a little sweeter. These muffins aren’t super sweet but that’s not a bad thing, but the butter flavor is very over powering.

  • Looks delish! Can I halve the recipe and keep the egg amount? And can I make them a day ahead?

    • — Jessica Cooper
    • Reply
    • Yes and yes. 🙂 Hope you enjoy!

  • Better than Starbucks! Love the muffins.

  • Went to computer so I could add a 5 star rating!

    • — Katherine Stewart
    • Reply
  • These turned out amazing!! I halved the recipe in case they were not good as to save maple syrup. It made six jumbo size muffins. The only changes I made was I used one whole egg, organic buttermilk vs milk, white wheat vs whole wheat and added a splash of vanilla. They taste like a cross between a maple pancake and a snickerdoodle. Which makes me think next time I’ll add some cinnamon. Texture was the best muffin texture I have ever made and I bake a lot of muffins. The house smells like maple pancake cookies!! Will definitely be a repeat make!!! Thank you!!! It’s not letting me rate this 5 stars which is probably good because it’s really 10 stars!!!

  • Can you make these ahead and freeze them?

    • Definitely, Amanda, they freeze nicely!

  • Made these tonight and they are quite marvelous; a perfect fall muffin. Beautiful crumb, just a bit toasty on the outside, rich and sweet inside. The toasted walnuts are just the right addition. Thanks for this lovely recipe, these will be a staple in my kitchen. Served as an accompaniment to Spicy Pumpkin Leek Soup. The maple syrup ties it all together.

  • I made half with nuts and half without. I find the muffins to be a tad too sweet and too buttery.

    • — Sunshine baker
    • Reply

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