Pistachio Muffins
On a quest to recreate one of my favorite treats from Tallahassee
Another muffin recipe…
I lived in Tallahassee for 10 years between undergrad, law school, clerking, and then going into private practice. By far, one of my favorite treats was a pistachio muffin from Lucky Goat - baked by Tasty Pastry, a family-owned and -operated bakery.
Every time I went back, I would stop and get one for breakfast. When I was in town in late January, I stopped to get my normal treat and was shocked to learn Lucky Goat no longer carries them. Naturally, I told my boyfriend, “I guess I have to learn to make them.”
For my first batch, I used a recipe from The Cozy Plum available here.
Like all of the recipes I could find online, this recipe uses instant pudding mix for the pistachio flavoring. There is also pistachio extract out there, but I haven’t found a recipe for pistachio muffins that uses it.
For the topping, I put shelled pistachios in the blender for a few seconds to chop them. And I used this coarse sugar I got on Amazon—the same I used on the Almond Poppy Seed Muffins.
These turned out really well. They were almost like the ones I used to get. They were a little less moist and less green, though. I’m going to try to tweak the recipe in the next batch to see if I can get closer. Also, they stayed fresh for several days in a Ziploc bag on the counter.
Note that these did not bake up as well as the Almond Poppy Seed Muffins because I didn’t fill the cups as much. I’m used to baking cupcakes where filling the cup all the ways turns into an epic disaster. Next time, I will fill these all the way so we can see the difference.
The OG
A few weeks after I made these, I had to go back to Tallahassee for work and actually found the original ones in a different coffee shop. You can imagine my excitement. Here’s a picture for comparison…
I’m thinking there’s something else in there other than pistachio baking mix because the color is different.
Stay tuned.