I’m a huge Seinfeld fan. If you know me, then I’ve probably interrupted a conversation or two to blurt out how something is “just like in Seinfeld”. I assume that this habit of mine is extremely annoying, especially to people who are either not big Seinfeld watchers or who have heard me say the same thing over and over. I would apologize, but honestly, I love that so much of what happened in Seinfeld are things that happen every day. When I’m in a bad mood or having a rough week, sometimes having a Seinfeld déjà vu moment can cheer me up a bit. That’s why I decided to do these Sweet Potato Muffin Tops. One of my favorite episodes is The Muffin Tops, where Elaine helps her old boss, Mr. Lippman, open his own business where they only sell the tops of muffins (because they are obviously the best part of the muffin – nobody likes the “stumps”). She also comes up with the name Top of the Muffin to You, which is endlessly funny to me. This time of year is usually filled with pumpkin and sweet potato dishes and treats, but I often find that when you make cookies with either pumpkin or sweet potato puree, they are closer to a cake or a muffin, and less like what you imagine when you hear the word “cookie”. Hence, muffin tops! These in particular are absolutely delicious, with a slight sweet potato flavor packed with plenty of Vietnamese cinnamon, freshly grated nutmeg, and ginger. If you’re looking for something other than pumpkin to bake with this fall, sweet potatoes are your new best friend.
Your ingredients. I roasted my sweet potatoes earlier for another recipe, which you will see later.
Whisk together your dry ingredients.
Beat together you pureed sweet potatoes, molasses, maple syrup, and brown sugar.
Gradually beat in the eggs, one at a time, followed by the vanilla.
Mix in the flour until just combined.
Drop two tablespoon sized balls of dough onto your prepared baking sheets, and bake at 375 degrees F for 10 minutes or so, until firm.
Allow to cool slightly on your baking sheet before moving to another surface to cool completely.
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- 1⅓ cup pureed sweet potatoes (recipe follows)
- ¼ cup pure maple syrup
- ¼ cup molasses
- ¼ cup dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. First, roast your sweet potatoes. You will need 2-3 sweet potatoes, depending on their size. Wrap them in foil and place them in the oven for 1 hour or so, until fork tender. Peel the skin away and mash or blend them until smooth. Set aside until cool, and turn the heat on your oven down to 375 degrees F. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and ginger and set aside.
- In the bowl of your mixer, beat together the pureed sweet potatoes, maple syrup, molasses, and brown sugar until well combined, then beat in the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla. Gradually add in the flour mixture, until just moistened. Line and/or grease your baking sheets and drop 2-tablespoon sized balls of dough onto each sheet, about 2 inches apart. I used an ice cream scoop, as the batter is quite soft, like muffin batter would be, but you can use spoons, too.
- Bake for 10 minutes or so, until firm but not quite golden. Allow them to cool on the baking sheets briefly, then move them to another surface to finish cooling completely. These keep well in an airtight container, separated by parchment paper, at room temperature for 3-4 days.
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I love this whole idea! Such a cute idea to make muffin tops. And I bet they are just as tasty as they look!
Thank you! I personally think that they were!
So clever, and they look delicious!
Thank you!
These are adorable!
Thanks, Michelle!
My fiance is a huge muffin top man! 😉 He’d love these.
What a great way to start a marriage 😉
it doesn’t bother you that the whole reason the store wasn’t working was because you can’t just make the tops? i mean, i know you’re avoiding a trip to the dump this way, but still….
I think if I made the actual muffins, I’d still eat the stumps.
I came to your site today in search of a recipe for a cauliflower soup that you made a while back. (I found it, so thank you.) When I saw this post where you talk about being a Seinfeld fan, I felt compelled to respond because I too am a huge Seinfeld fan. Just yesterday, when I was uber-stressed out with a deadline, I was yelling “Serenity Now” over and over a la Frank Costanza. I hope that makes you chuckle. I also think it’s rather serendipitous (or something) that a woman who’s a huge Seinfeld fan married a guy named Kramer.
It is, isn’t it? I think one of the reasons I started seeing him in the first place was because I liked his name so much 😉
It’s weird how Seinfeld-isms have such an amazing lasting power. When I’m 70 years old I will still think of Art Vandelay when anyone says the word “importer” or “exporter.”
Me too!
These look amazing! I can’t wait to make them this weekend while I’m watching an episode of Seinfeld.
Sounds like a great weekend to me.
Yum, these look lovely! I think I just may prefer sweet potato to pumpkin and, of course, muffin tops to muffin stumps
I love the phrase “muffin stump” so much.
just pulled a batch of these out of the oven! SO yummy
I used light instead of dark brown sugar because it’s what I had around the house and I threw in half a bag of mini chocolate chips at the end. Thank you for sharing!
Chocolate would really put these over the top!
Ha! It was awesome reading this comment as I was pulling my own sweet potato muffin tops out of the oven. I also put a half bag of mini chocolate chips in the second half of the batter…and I must say that I wouldn’t make these without them again!
Sounds awesome!