Happy New Year! Have Some Baklava Muffins.

The above picture is proof that Christmas and New Year's actually happened this year (I mean last year), even though it feels like it flew by in no time at all.  The tree and all its trappings came down on Sunday, thanks to Earle, while I was catching a double feature at the Ritz.  When I came home, it was almost like they hadn't been up at all.  I know I must seem like a total sap, but I'm a bit attached to the weeks between Thanksgiving and January 1st.  And now it's back to reality, back to the regular everyday.

I baked a lot over the holidays - rocky road chocolate bites, bagels, tons of chocolate-covered pretzels with various toppings thanks to Helen's post over at Philly Foodie, my first brisket (most of the credit goes to Earle, but I helped!), soft pretzel bites (Tracey and I made those together), and for a delicious New Year's brunch hosted by friends Josh and Martha, these fluffy baklava muffins.

First off, I have to mention that Martha made the most delicious cinnamon buns completely from scratch.  I thought I took a video of her icing some hot-out-of-the-oven buns, but alas I have yet to figure out my new phone and failed to press the record button.  (Which is pretty dumb, no?)  All I can say is...wow.   Warm, gooey, caramel-ly, smothered in what appeared to be a cream cheese based icing (but I could be wrong)...they were pure, unadulterated sinfulness. 

There was a bounty of amazingly delicious food at the brunch and I shan't lie:  I was a little embarrassed by my simple muffins.  While a bit on the basic side, they have such a light and fluffy texture with a bit of cinnamon, sugar and walnut filling and a drizzle of honey on top gets completely soaked up by the ever-so-slight sponginess of the muffin.  Earle and I tried one right out of the oven and were entranced by their very delicate sweetness and airy texture.

I was very, very excited on Christmas morning when I opened up a gift from my dad's wife, Bianca, to find a square muffin pan.  I had been pining over one at Fante's for awhile and was super duper psyched to try it out.  What I didn't quite realize is the size difference between the square cups and the average round muffin pan - the square ones were almost twice the size of my round ones, so I had to double the recipe.  Oops.

What I also didn't quite realize was that the finished muffins would be, duh, double the size then originally intended.  Thankfully they're light enough, and not a bit dense, so eating a whole one might take some time but shouldn't be all that tricky.  The next time I make these though, I'll probably use a smaller muffin pan.  Or put a bit less batter in each cup.  Lesson learned. 

The recipe was adapted from Nigella Lawson's How to Be a Domestic Goddess (but originally taken from The Joy of Muffins, a book I'm seriously contemplating buying right now.  Someone talk me out of it.)  My version is under the cut.  Make these!  Eat these!  They take no time at all!  You won't regret it.