Pistachio Muffins
Why I Love This Recipe
These muffins are nice and moist (is there another word I can use to get that point across?). I love the combination of pistachio, cinnamon and nutmeg. I used roasted pistachios. Raw would be perfectly fine too. Actually, I would've preferred raw but I didn't have any on hand. I think if you were to use the nut in the raw...you'd end up with more of the oils and a more pure pistachio flavor.
One of the things I like about this recipe is that you take some of the nuts and puree them into a paste...well...a nut butter actually, leaving the rest of the nuts to be roughly chopped. I believe this method infuses more of the natural flavor in the muffin
Ingredients You'll Need
2 cups white sugar
1 cup butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup pistachios, roughly chopped (more if you want to sprinkle some on top of the muffins)
3/4 cup pistachios, pureed (instructions below)
1 tsp vanilla extract
Green food coloring (optional)
Directions
Preheat your oven to 425' F
Line 24 standard sized muffin cups
In a food processor, process 3/4 cup of pistachios in 30 second increments until pureed, scraping down the sides as needed. This should only take 3 or 4 increments.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. While the mixer is still running, add the eggs one at a time then add in the vanilla extract and green food coloring, if desired. I used a few squirts of the gel kind, eyeballing it until I liked the shade. Beat until just combined. Set aside.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
With the mixer on low, add the sifted ingredients to the creamed butter, alternating with the buttermilk. Beat until just incorporated. Beat in the pureed pistachio nuts. Fold in the chopped nuts.
Fill each muffin cup with the batter. I used an ice cream scoop for uniformity. If you have any left over pistachios, give them a rough chop and sprinkle them over the muffins.
Bake for 20 - 23 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Allow to cool slightly before enjoying