Butter

Brown Butter Raspberry Rye Cacao Muffins

November 30, 2015
4
1 Ratings
Photo by Salvegging
  • Makes ~10 muffins
Author Notes

A brown butter muffin is a deep muffin. A brown butter muffin dotted with magenta berries and crunchy black cacao nibs is a bold yet sophisticated muffin. Here I took a base recipe for coffeecake rye flour muffins plucked from a newspaper article on whole grain baking by Kim Boyce and opted to (gasp) omit the crumble topping and swap in berries and cacao. The vanilla brown butter, however, wasn't going anywhere. —Two Trays Kitchen

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 125 grams all purpose flour (1 cup)
  • 120 grams rye flour (1 cup)
  • 125 grams granulated sugar (2/3 cup)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 115 grams good butter (1 stick)
  • 235 grams plain whole milk yogurt (1 cup), room temp
  • 1 large egg, room temp
  • 2 teaspoons good vanilla extract
  • scant 1/2 cups raspberries, fresh or frozen
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons cacao nibs (I like Theo) OR if preferable, fine-chopped dark chocolate
  • Raw sugar for sprinkling
Directions
  1. Grease about 10 wells of a muffin tin and heat the oven to 375, rack in the middle.
  2. Allow the butter to melt, stirring occasionally, until the foam has subsided and the milk solids have dropped to the bottom of the pan and browned (don’t let them get too dark). Remove from heat and immediately pour browned butter, including flecks, into a heat-proof bowl to stop the cooking. Allow to cool slightly.
  3. In a large bowl, stir together the rye flour, all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon.
  4. Whisk yogurt, egg and vanilla extract together into the slightly cooled butter. Add the wet ingredients to the bowl of dry ingredients and fold and gently stir until just combined. Fold in half the berries and about 1/3 of the cacao nibs.
  5. Evenly scoop batter into prepared tin about 2/3 full. Stud each muffin with the remaining raspberries, sprinkle evenly the cacao nibs and give each a little shower of raw sugar.
  6. Bake 10 minutes at 375, then turn the oven to 350 for about 15 more minutes, about 25 minutes total, or until golden brown and the tops spring back when lightly touched and a skewer comes out clean. Let the muffins cool slightly in the tin, then pivot them onto their sides to ensure a dry, not soggy, crust. Continue to cool by themselves on a wire rack.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • Two Trays Kitchen
    Two Trays Kitchen
  • Isbiltur
    Isbiltur
  • Mambi
    Mambi

5 Reviews

Isbiltur April 28, 2021
These are one of the best muffins I've baked. I replaced cacao nibs with dark chocolate and it worked well enough. That browned butter makes all the difference, yum!
 
Two T. April 28, 2021
Oh I am so glad. And thanks for reminding me to make them again!
 
Two T. February 5, 2017
Wonderful, so glad you enjoyed them! And yes, the add-ins are anything goes : )
 
Mambi February 4, 2017
Just pulled these babies out of the oven! Firstly they are delicious and secondly they popped out of the muffin tin easily! On this occasion I swapped the raspberries for blueberries, really tasty treats!
 
Two T. February 5, 2017
Wonderful, so glad you enjoyed them! And yes, the add-ins are anything goes : )