Pecan Pie Muffins

I'm making up for lost blogging time now. I made these muffins a few weeks ago, but studying took precedence over waiting for my ancient laptop to download photos to the blog. I'm proud to say that this is one of the first recipes I can claim as MINE! I took a basic muffin concept, tweaked it a lot and the outcome was shockingly decent. Ross LOVED them. I hope you do, too!

Heavenly with a little butter melted on top

Pecan Pie Muffins

3/4 cup all-purpose flour (or white whole wheat flour)
3/4 cup brown sugar (may be reduced, but it will make the muffin more cake-like and less pie-like if that makes sense)
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup pecans, crushed
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/3 cup pecan butter (see recipe below)
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350*F. Mix dry ingredients well in a large bowl. Mix wet ingredients thoroughly in a small bowl. Add wet to dry and stir until just combined. Pour into muffin tins and garnish with a pecan half if desired. Bake 20-25 minutes until knife inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Pecan Butter

So easy to make, I'll never pay $10 for a 6-ounce jar at Whole Foods! Simply take any amount of pecans (I used 1 cup), dump in food processor, and process until smooth. You may have to scrape the sides down occasionally. Save what you don't use for the recipe in a tupperware or glass jar in the refrigerator and try it in place of peanut butter on a sandwich, or on top of a baked sweet potato.

A big thanks to Ross' grandparents-- our pecan suppliers ;-)

edited to add: Find my recipe and some other amazing ones on Sweet as Sugar Cookie's Sweets for a Saturday!