For my mom’s birthday Brunch this past Sunday, I made a buffet of food with recipes that I’ll be posting all week. Some of the recipes were from my tried and true collection, others were from recipes that I found in my myriad of cookbooks that I thought were worth a try, while some were from websites who have featured their recipes. Have I mentioned what a food freak I am? I stalk as many food blogs/websites as I can find.

Today, I’ll be talking about the Pecan Pie Muffins that Christy over at Southern Plate posted about not long ago. Being from the South, pecans were always plentiful. We had two huge pecan trees in our backyard. I remember shelling pecans as far back as when I was four years old. Pecans are so delicious. Apparently so delicious that now I have to pay $6.99 for a small bag of chopped pecans. Not so plentiful around here, I reckon. I usually substitute chopped walnuts when a recipe calls for nuts because they’re cheaper, but you can’t have Pecan Pie Muffins with WALNUTS. They’d be Walnut Pie Muffins. And somehow, I don’t think they’d be nearly as yummy.

Pecan pie is a staple Thanksgiving dessert. . . . at least it is at my house. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my mom’s pecan pie. So when I saw Pecan Pie Muffins, I thought, “Hmmmm, pecan pie flavor in breakfast form. Sounds like a winning combination to me.” So I made them as part of my Birthday Brunch Buffet.

In YJB’s typical form, I screwed these up too. Instead of using regular sized muffin tins, I used mini muffin tins which wouldn’t have been so bad had I not cooked them as long as you would cook the bigger muffins. They came out a little overcooked. But let me tell you. . . these little buggars are so good that even dried up pecan pie muffins are DELICIOUS. They’re chewy like the top part of a pecan pie. I can’t wait to try them again without cooking them so long. If they are this tasty overcooked, I can just imagine how tasty and delicious they’ll be when cooked per instructions.

Here’s what you need:

PECAN PIE MUFFINS

1 cup pecans, chopped
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup self-rising flour
2 eggs
1 stick butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine chopped pecans, brown sugar and flour. Beat eggs until foamy. Pour cooled melted butter into the egg mixture; stir to combine. Add to dry ingredients, stirring until just moistened.
Spray your muffin tins (even if you’re using baking cups). Spoon batter into the cups, filling 2/3’s full. Bake for 20 minutes or until done. Remove from tins immediately. Yields: 9 large muffins or 24 mini muffins.

Aren’t they adorable? These muffins SHOULD come with a Warning label. I’m serious. But since they don’t, I’m going to be your friend and tell you. . . THEY ARE ADDICTING! Even dried out and overcooked, they’re STILL ADDICTING. The taste outweighs anything I could do to screw them up. When that happens, you know you have a winner.