I love when I find a super simple recipe made with very basic ingredients that turns out full of flavor and unbelievably delicious! These Brown Butter Muffins are one of those simple recipes that taste totally gourmet – thanks to star ingredient brown butter.

Does brown butter make a difference?

Oh yes!  Browned butter, also known as beurre noisette, adds an incredibly rich, toasted, and wonderfully nutty note to sweet and savory recipes that can make a major difference in taste. You will be amazed!

I’m a sucker for any sort of browned butter situation. If I’m out at a restaurant and I see brown butter anything on the menu, no need to continue browsing. I will have that, please. There’s just something about taking an already perfect ingredient such as butter and transforming it into a totally different (yet equally perfect) entity that gets me every time.

Brown Butter Muffins with Walnuts, and a touch of Maldon Sea Salt

One of my favorite brown butter desserts is a tart with fresh fruit that I’ve made countless times, but this time I was in the mood for something of an individually-sized nature.

I decided to whip up a batch of muffins with brown butter, walnuts, and a touch of Maldon Sea Salt- another ingredient that has me completely enamored, but I’ll save my sea salt sonnet for another time.

I added it to the batter of course but also sprinkled a little on top of each muffin, and guys. Let me tell you, I went crazy for those little muffin tops! The brown butter flavor just explodes out of the top thanks to those delicate, crunchy flakes of salt.

On Making Browned Butter

I think I also enjoy the languid, meditative process involved in making browned butter. So often I will whiz through my cooking lickety-split, balancing four or five different tasks at once in order to maximize efficiency. But browned butter forces you to slow down, because if you have too much going on I can promise that you will forget all about that little pot of butter melting away quietly in the background. And all of a sudden- poof! In a split second, you’re left with blackened, burned, ruined butter.

So I take comfort in the fact that as long as you stay close by, practice a little patience and give it the occasional stir it will result in fragrant, nutty caramelized, buttery goodness every single time.

Tips:

• These muffins use baking powder to generate the “rise” which makes them light and fluffy. You want to measure it out correctly – too little and they won’t rise enough, use too much and they will rise quickly and then collapse.
• Avoid over-mixing the batter and overcooking the muffins or they might get a bit dry.
• Clearly, there’s already a sufficient amount of butter in these muffins so I opted to spread mine just with a simple dollop of fresh mixed berry jam. Personally, I think that’s all they need, but hey, if you want to add a smear of butter to your muffin, I certainly won’t stop you. No judgment.