Chestnut Sage Muffins

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup milk
• 2 small bunches sage
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup chestnut flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup yogurt
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Set an oven rack in the middle position and heat the oven to 400 degrees F. Pour the milk into a small saucepan, add the sage, and warm it until it is just barely simmering. Take the pan off the heat, cover it, and let the sage infuse for at least 10 minutes. Remove the sage, pressing out as much milk as you can before discarding it.
2. Add the butter to a small saucepan over medium heat; once it melts, keep cooking as it foams. Continue until the butter turns golden and the solids on the bottom are dark brown and smell nutty. Pour the butter into a heatproof container, scraping in the browned bits from the pan. Measure 1/4 cup of the brown butter and keep it warm.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the all purpose flour, chestnut flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt; sift them if needed, or whisk until evenly mixed. In another mixing bowl, whisk the sage milk with the yogurt and vanilla until smooth. Keep whisking while you pour in the brown butter in a slow stream, then add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients and fold gently until the flour streaks are gone and the batter is fluffy but still a little lumpy. Divide the batter evenly among the cups of a 12 cup muffin pan lined with paper cups.
4. Bake for 7 minutes, turn the pan, and continue baking for 3-5 minutes, until a skewer poked into a muffin comes out clean. Do not let them bake too long. Let the muffins cool briefly in the pan, then move them to a rack to finish cooling.