monarch way

I found this recipe from Balancing Beauty and Bedlam via Pinterest. I had some pecans and dried cranberries leftover from when I made broccoli salad and I have been using them on salads with grilled chicken and poppyseed dressing. But I saw this recipe and thought, “I need to get rid of the craisins and pecans, so I need to make these muffins.” The original recipe is a little different than my rendition, for one, I added dried cranberries. These taste like mini pecan pies. They do not puff up very much. I ended up with enough batter for 11 regular-sized muffins (they filled up about half of the baking cup). According to my calculations, they are about 293 calories each, but well worth it.

Ingredients

• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 2 ounces dried cranberries (Craisins)
• 2/3 cup melted Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Spread (or butter)
• 2 eggs, beaten

Directions

1. Combine brown sugar, flour, and pecans.
2. In separate bowl, beat eggs with a mixer.
3. Mix melted butter and eggs well.
4. Add butter and eggs mixture to the flour mixture. Stir just until moist.
5. Grease muffin pan well or use baking cups (and spray Pam into each baking cup).
6. Bake at 350° for 23 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
7. If you used baking cups, leave muffins in muffin pan to cool or transfer to a rack. If you did not use baking cups, remove muffins from muffin pan and allow to cool on rack.