Pumpkin Muffins

Pumpkin Muffins

by

Luclare Cuisine

A lot of people really like pumpkin flavors these days.  There are pumpkin spice granola, pumpkin spice frappuccinos, and pumpkin spice Pringles.  There may even be pumpkin spice pumpkins but that seems a little redundant.  Although I’ve heard that a lot of pumpkin spice products don’t even have pumpkin as an ingredient - maybe that’s not so redundant after all.  

The pumpkin trend may have started with Linus from the old Peanuts comic strip.  I still remember him hanging out alone in a pumpkin patch every Halloween.  Sometimes ridiculed by the Peanuts gang and always missing out on all of the Halloween festivities, Linus’ abiding faith in the eventual appearance of the Great Pumpkin never seemed to be shaken.

If you have an unshakable faith in your baking skills or if you just like the taste of pumpkin (like pretty much everyone these days) we have a suggestion we know Linus would go for – pumpkin muffins (with or without chocolate chips). 

So let’s get on with the cooking…

Prep time: approximately 30 min
Bake time: 20 min at 375 F
Total time: approximately 50 min 


Yields: 12 large muffins or 6 extra large. We're going to be using the large muffin pan, you can use baking cups or butter the muffin pan which we will be doing.


Ingredients:
1 1/2 c (8 oz) (230g) flour

1 c (200 g) brown sugar

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter

2 (approx. 100 g) large eggs

425 g canned 100% pure pumpkin

1/4 c water

approx. 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, optional

Topping:

3 Tbsp (31 g) flour

1 Tbsp brown sugar

1Tbsp unsalted butter

1/4 cinnamon

approx. 1/2 cup whole pumpkin seeds

Step 1
Butter the muffin pan or line it with baking cups.
Melt the 1/2 c (113 g) and 1 tablepoon butter, separately, set aside.

Step 2
In a small bowl combine all of the topping ingredients, mix well until it's crumbly, set aside.

Step 3
In a large bowl combine and mix flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, salt. 

Step 4 
In a medium bowl combine and mix pumpkin, water, eggs, butter.

Step 5

Add liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients, with a hand mixer mix well.

Optional: Add chocolate chips, mix.


Step 6

Using a large ice cream scoop or large spoon scoop the dough into the muffin pan, then top the dough with the prepared topping and pumpkins seeds.

Step 7
Bake the muffins in the preheated oven (375 F) for 20 minutes or a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let them cool and enjoy them!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Luclare Cuisine