Maple Nut Muffins

After our neighbor Mike retired in 2014, he made his long-time dream a reality, producing maple syrup. I can tell you firsthand, once you've had Mike's 100% maple syrup, you'll never want to go back to a grocery store brand again. It's quite a labor-intensive operation, and one jar really is liquid gold.  
You need to know... 
The general rule of thumb is that it takes 40 parts of maple sap to produce 1 part of maple syrup. This translates into 40 gallons of sap to produce 1 gallon or syrup (or 10 gallons of sap for one quart of syrup). This estimate is dependent on the sugar content of your sap.

My jars from Mike are cherished, and they even make a trip to AZ each year.

Cook's Notes: Warm Maple Nut Muffins , straight from the oven, are a delicious way to start your day. These muffins are sweetened with pure maple syrup, nuts, and a cinnamon sugar topping. Pair the muffins with your favorite warm beverage, and you have the perfect recipe to usher in the fall season. Recipe makes 9 regular-sized muffins and was adapted from bakeorbreak.com.    
Cooking Tip: Add an extra topping crunch and sparkle by mixing a little cinnamon with white sparkling sugar. This jar was purchased at Michaels in the baking section.

A good substitute for sprinkles is cinnamon mixed with granulated sugar, 

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup packed light or dark brown sugar
• 1 -1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon Saigon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup (not pancake syrup)
• 1/2 cup milk or half and half
• 1/4 cup butter, melted and slightly cooled
• 1 cup chopped nuts
• Cinnamon sugar garnish

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400°. Line 9 standard muffin cups with paper liners.
• In a large mixing bowl, stir together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
• In a separate bowl, lightly beat the egg with a whisk. Add maple syrup, milk or half and half, and melted butter. Stir to combine.
• Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients. Stir just until combined. Stir in nuts.
• Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups, filling about 3/4 full. Sprinkle each muffin with cinnamon sugar mixture or sprinkles.