#MuffinMonday ~ Maple Cinnamon Nut Butter Muffins

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

I can't remember where I picked this up now (I think it was probably during our Asheville trip about a  year ago, or at the Decatur Book Festival last summer!) - but I was staring at a jar of Maple Cinnamon Nut Butter and thinking hmm... I wonder what this recipe would taste like with that swirled into it... so of course I had to find out!

You can absolutely use ANYTHING of similar texture in your muffins - use Nutella, regular peanut butter or any other nut butter, use Biscoff Spread... any kind of yummy, sweetened, thick textured spread will mix in well to this muffin base. The texture and flavor of the base remind me a lot of coffee cake! Really mild, but delicious, and a wonderful "host" to the star of the show.

And if you get a chance to pick up a jar of this delicious nut butter - definitely give it a try, I thought it worked beautifully in these muffins, and really I just want to make a PB and Honey Sandwich with the rest of it and enjoy that delicious cinnamon flavor and the tiny crunchy bits of nuts in the spread! It's good stuff (and no, I wasn't sponsored on this post).

See all the tasty muffin recipes we're sharing with you today!

• Apple Brown Sugar Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Blueberry Kumquat Muffins from Palatable Pastime
• Cheesy Corn and Bacon Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Curried Chicken Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Maple Cinnamon Nut Butter Muffins from Making Miracles
• Mini Nutella Swirled Muffins from Passion Kneaded

Maple Cinnamon Muffins adapted from Dinner Dishes and Desserts

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
~ 1 cup Maple Cinnamon Nut Butter (or other nut butter, nutella, biscoff spread, etc.)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.
2. Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl: flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Whisk to combine and set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, blend together the oil, egg, and milk until combined. Slowly add in the dry ingredients and mix on low, just until combined.
4. Evenly distribute the batter into the prepped muffin tin (they should each be about halfway full).
5. Next place 1 TBS of your preferred spread (Maple Cinnamon Nut Butter, other nut butter, Nutella, Biscoff spread, etc.) atop each muffin. Use a toothpick or butter knife and swirl the spread into the batter slightly.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for 14-17 minutes (15 minutes was perfect for my batch).
7. Cool in the tin for about 10 minutes, then remove muffins to a cooling rack to complete cooling - or enjoy warm!