Maple Syrup Pancake Muffins

Muffins or pancakes for lazy brunch? I do love pancakes but I'm always the one standing at the stove flipping them and trashy morning TV was calling me to its den of condescending advice, z-list celebrities and bad makeover shows last weekend...

Drum roll please- Introducing Pancake Muffins- Soft muffins with a crunchy top, brown butter giving them the pancake aroma. Brown butter is my new favourite thing and isn't as daunting as it might appear. You simply cook the butter on a medium heat until it browns. It does require a keen eye so give it your full concentration.

Butter is usually the conduit for flavour but when you brown the butter it becomes the powerhouse of flavour in itself, giving depth and a light caramel/butterscotch taste.  I found these mutant beauties on Joy the Baker blog. If you haven't checked her blog out, it's amazing. Her photography is beautiful, her writing moving and funny and her recipes TO DIE FOR. She's a self confessed glutton- my kind of girl.

For the muffins
100g unsalted butter
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1/3 cup whole milk at room temp
1 tablespoon maple syrup
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups plain flour sieved
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt

1. Melt the butter over a low heat. When the butter is fully melted turn up to medium heat. The butter will start to go brown after 4-5 minutes and will crackle. After the crackling subsides you are in the danger zone. Keep a close eye, brown flecks will appear. Take it off the heat and pour into a cold jug. It should look like this:

2. Whisk together the milk, eggs, vanilla and maple syrup. Add the brown butter and combine.
3. Sift the baking powder and flour and then put in a bowl with the sugar and salt. Add the wet ingredients all at once and mix well but gently. Be careful to look for any flour pockets.
4. Divide the batter among a muffin tin. It should make 12-15 big muffins.
5. Bake at 180oC preheated oven for 18-20 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.