Pancake Souffle Muffins
By: Emily Rohrer
Published: Monday, April 7, 2014 - 6:33am

Ingredients




2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup + 2 tbsp. cake flour
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
6 large eggs (divided into whites and yolks)
3/4 tsp. cream of tartar
6 tbsp. melted butter (cooled slightly)
6 tbsp. granulated sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 cup pure maple syrup
1 cup quartered ripe strawberries (or whatever seasonal fruit/berries you like)

Preparation

1 Position a rack in the center of your oven and preheat it to 400 degrees. Spray two 12-cup muffin pans with cooking spray to keep the muffins from sticking. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cake flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt, and then set the mixture aside. 2 Beat the egg whites and cream of tartar on medium-high speed until they form stiff (but not dry!) peaks. Set aside and beat the egg yolks on medium-high speed until they are thick, ribbony and lemon-yellow (about 6 minutes). 3 Add the melted butter, sugar and vanilla - mixing to combine (about 30 seconds). Add 1/3 of the dry mixture to the yolk mixture, then add 1/3 of the buttermilk. Alternate the mixtures back and forth, ending with the buttermilk and mixing until the batter just comes together. With a large rubber spatula, gently fold the whipped egg whites into the batter (leave some streaks) without breaking the whites. 4 Scoop about 1/2 cup batter into each muffin cup. You can fill the cups to the top rims. Bake the muffins for 10 minutes, rotate the pans, then bake for 10-12 more minutes until the tops just begin to brown and are nice and puffed. 5 While the muffins are baking, you can make the strawberry syrup by bringing the maple syrup to a boil on the stove, then pouring it over the chopped strawberries - stirring well to saturate. 6 Serve up the muffins topped with the syrup and enjoy!

About

These little muffins are the perfect combination of muffins, pancakes and a souffle.  I eat way too many of these whenever I bake up a batch, so be warned: they can be addictive!  The strawberry-infused syrup is perfect in the summertime, but you could swap in frozen fruit any time of year or just use whatever fresh seasonal fruit you have on hand.  Frozen blueberries work really well, so do peaches!