Amazingly Easy Phyllo Free Baklava Muffins

They’re easy because there’s no phyllo dough in there, go figure. That being said, if you like making your own baked goods with minimal effort, this is the recipe for you. This recipe comes from Nigella Lawson’s “How to be a Domestic Goddess.” Every recipe I make from her book gets me one step closer but domestic god doesn’t have quite the same ring to it. Anyway, one can argue that muffins are cupcakes without the frosting. Following that logic would mean muffins are inferior to cupcakes. I think this recipe makes a solid argument that muffins can stand on their own and be just as delicious as cupcakes, even without the frosting. On to the recipe notes!

Recipe Notes and Tips

This recipe is pretty simple to put together but I’ll give you a few tips anyways. I also made one modification to the original recipe. I found there wasn’t enough filling to my liking so I doubled it. If you’re looking for something remotely healthy for breakfast, these muffins are not it. They are delicious though and that’s what counts.

Assemble your filling first. Melt the butter and add the chopped walnuts, sugar, and cinnamon. Mix everything together and set aside. Next, get a large bowl and mix your dry ingredients together. In a large measuring cup, whisk your egg, add the rest of your wet ingredients and mix everything together. Add your wet ingredients to your dry ingredients and mix using a spatula. The goal with the batter is to have everything just combined, it doesn’t need to be smooth. The less you handle the batter, the lighter your muffins will be.

Assembly Notes

Fill each of the muffin cups one-third of the way full. Take the baklava filling and sprinkle a bit into each muffin cup. Next, add more batter to each cup so that they are two-thirds full. Finally, sprinkle the remaining filling onto the top of each muffin so that there is a good amount of filling on top.

Bake the muffins for around 15 minutes and then remove them from the tin and place on a wire rack to cool. If you let the muffins cool in the tin, you risk overcooking them and making the wrapper difficult to remove. While the muffins are cooling, take your honey and drizzle generously over the top of the muffins. Add as much or as little honey as you like. Consume once the muffins are cool enough to handle and eat. The muffins will keep at room temperature in a sealed container for a couple days before they start to get stale. They almost taste better the second day when the flavors have developed more and the honey has soaked into the muffin. Maybe its just a bit closer in my mind to baklava. Either way, they’re delicious and a good argument that muffins can be just as delicious as cupcakes.