Chestnut Sage Muffins Recipe

Updated May 07, 2020

Chestnut flour is a very underrated ingredient. It's light and slightly sweet with a delicate roasted flavor. It tends to keep baked goods very moist, and since I don't particularly like terribly sweet breakfast foods I used the opportunity to drastically reduce the sugar in my favorite muffin recipe. If you like a sweeter muffin feel free to double the amount of sugar, but I love how the sage and chestnut flour provide much of the perceived sweetness in this recipe. These muffins would be great for any winter holiday breakfast, with cranberry jam or orange marmalade, or even a sweetened cream cheese.

Note: If you like your muffins to have bits of things in them, I'd recommend some chopped dried apples or pears in here, or toasted chopped walnuts or pecans if you want something crunchy.

Recipe Details

Chestnut Sage Muffins Recipe

Active 10 mins

Total 30 mins

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients

2/3 cup milk
2 small bunches sage (with about 5 leaves on each)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup chestnut flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup yogurt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Place rack in center of oven and preheat to 400°F. Combine milk and sage in small saucepan and heat to a bare simmer, then remove from heat and cover. Allow to steep at least 10 minutes, then remove sage, squeezing as much milk as possible from sage before discarding.
Place butter in small saucepan and heat over medium until melted and foamy. Allow to cook until liquid butter is golden brown and solids at bottom are deep brown and smell nutty. Transfer to a heatproof container, making sure to scrape out as much of browned solids as possible. Measure out 1/4 cup of brown butter and keep warm.
Combine all purpose flour, chestnut flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in medium mixing bowl. Sift if necessary, or simply whisk together. In separate mixing bowl, combine sage milk, yogurt and vanilla and whisk until smooth. Whisking constantly, drizzle in brown butter, then scrape into dry mixture and fold together gently until all streaks of flour are incorporated and batter is fluffy and slightly lumpy. Divide evenly between cups in a 12 cup muffin pan lined with paper cups. Bake 7 minutes, then rotate pan and bake another 3-5 minutes, until a skewer inserted into muffin comes out clean. Be careful not to overbake. Allow to cool in pan slightly before transferring to rack to finish cooling.