Maple Pecan Sourdough Muffins

These maple pecan sourdough muffins taste like fall should. Sweet and buttery, studded with crunchy pecans and drizzled in a maple butter syrup once baked for an extra hit of maple flavor, you're going to fall in love with these sourdough maple pecan muffins. Perfect with your morning coffee on a crisp fall morning or any time of the day really!

You can bake this recipe in a 12 hole muffin pan or as a loaf, similar to a sourdough banana bread. I've added more details for this further down in the post.

Why You'll Love This Recipe!

So Easy - these sourdough muffins are so easy to mix, pour and bake. There's no crumbly toppings or glazes, they're simple, easy and utterly delicious! Made with basic ingredients, this is a muffin recipe the whole family will love.

Flavors of Fall - these sourdough pecan maple muffins encapsulate the flavors of fall. Pure maple syrup, pecans, cinnamon, oats - it doesn't get more fall than this in terms of flavor profile.

Use Up 200g of Sourdough Discard - this is a great recipe to use up a lot of sourdough discard in one hit.

Ingredients

This sourdough maple pecan muffin recipe uses really simple ingredients, most of which you probably already have in your pantry. Let's look at exactly what you need (exact amounts and directions can be found on the recipe card at the end of this post).

• All Purpose Flour and Cornstarch - Cornstarch is added to make these muffins more tender (the cornstarch helps lower the gluten in the flour, especially helpful as we are adding extra flour when using sourdough starter). Oats can also make muffins tough, so the cornstarch helps with this also.
  
• Sugar - I've used both brown sugar and white sugar in this recipe. Each type of sugar brings it's own distinct sweetness and I felt the recipe was better with both. You can use dark brown sugar rather than light if you prefer. This will give you a more caramel flavor and darker baked muffin.
  
• Cinnamon - measure the ground cinnamon with your heart! You can add some pumpkin spice instead if you really want to double down on those fall flavors.
  
• Baking Powder + Salt - Baking powder provides the leavening power for your muffins and just a pinch of salt to counter the sweetness.
  
• Pecans - there's just something about pecans that scream fall! They are my absolute favorite nut so it was a no brainer to include them in this sourdough muffin recipe.
  
• Rolled Oats - when I was developing this recipe I added rolled oats in a batch and the result was fantastic. It gives them a little more oomph and I love that it adds an extra bit of protein to these. Definitely a win win.
  
• Eggs - you'll need 2 eggs for this recipe. I've used fresh free range eggs from my chickens. Make sure your eggs are at room temperature.
  
• Buttermilk - you can use real buttermilk (especially if you make your own butter) or you can simply add a dash of white vinegar to some whole milk and let it sit for 5 minutes. Either one is fine. I've tested the recipe with both options and there is no discernible difference in flavor. You can use whole milk on it's own if you prefer.
  
• Oil - you can use whatever your preferred oil is. Vegetable oil or sunflower oil work really well as they are light in flavor. Coconut oil is also a good one to use as it enhances the maple syrup flavors. If you prefer to use melted butter you can. I prefer to use oil as I find it produces a more moist muffin.
  
• Maple Syrup - I've used real maple syrup, not maple flavored syrup or pancake syrup. The amount used is around a half cup maple syrup.
  
• Vanilla Extract - I've used real vanilla extract in this recipe for a flavor boost. You can use whatever vanilla you have on hand.
  
• Sourdough Starter - You can use active sourdough starter or sourdough discard for this recipe. The sourdough starter provides an extra level of flavor and some sourdough benefits, but does not provide the leavening for this recipe, so whichever you choose to use won't affect the rise of this recipe. One caveat is make sure that if you're using sourdough discard, you allow it to come to room temperature before you use it. If it's too cold it will not incorporate with the other wet ingredients.
  
• Butter - like always I've used salted butter, you can use unsalted if you prefer.

How To Make Sourdough Maple Pecan Muffins

Like most sourdough muffin recipes, these sourdough maple pecan muffins are super easy to pull together. Use your kitchen scale for even easier clean up.

Preheat your oven to 190C (375F) and line a 12 hole muffin pan with liners or butter. You can see I've used a square muffin pan but these work perfectly with round muffin pans. Set this aside.

In a large mixing bowl add all of the dry ingredients including all purpose flour, both white sugar and brown sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, cornstarch, salt, chopped pecans and rolled oats. Use a whisk to combine throughly and set aside.

In a separate small bowl add all of the wet ingredients - eggs, buttermilk, oil, maple syrup, vanilla and sourdough starter (or discard). Whisk these well until thoroughly combined.

Now pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients and stir to combine. It does not require much mixing, just stir enough to wet the dry ingredients.

Now divide the muffin batter equally among your muffin pans and bake for around 25 minutes or until the muffins are golden brown and baked through (the bake time might vary depending on your oven). You can use a cookie scoop to do this, but I find it just as easy to use a pair of spoons.

While the muffins are baking, prepare the maple butter syrup by combining the maple syrup and melted butter in a small dish and stirring well to combine. Set this aside until the muffins are baked.

Remove sourdough maple pecan muffins from the oven and while they are still in the muffin pan, drizzle with the maple butter syrup you prepared earlier. Allow to sit in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Bake These Muffins as a Loaf

There are a number of different ways you can bake these maple pecan sourdough muffins.

They work really well in 12 hole muffin tins, but they can also be baked as a "quick bread" sourdough maple pecan loaf

I've baked these in a 12 hole brownie pan for the photos. I love using this brownie pan for muffins for something a little different. This mix also works really well in an 8 hole mini loaf pan. Super cute for gifting!

How To Freeze + Store

These sourdough maple pecan muffins can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for around 3 days. I find that after 3 days they start to loose their soft texture. If we are eating them from the container, I like to warm them for just 30 seconds in the microwave as I find this freshens them up a little.

These sourdough muffins freeze really well. I store them in a freezer-safe bag or airtight zipper bag in the freezer and allow them to thaw at room temperature when required. Again, warming them slightly in the microwave helps freshen them up too.