Monday, December 15, 2008

Amazing Pumpkin Muffins

To thank my coworker for giving me her tickets to the Blazers game on Friday night, I decided to make some pumpkin muffins. She loves pumpkin treats, and muffins are *relatively* healthy and not as daunting as a pie. Everyone at work commented on how delicious they were, and I have to agree! 

* In every picture I took, the muffin turned out looking like a warped goblin. I didn't think it looked appealing, so there shall be no pictures!

Muffin mix:
1 15 oz. can of pureed pumpkin
1 1/2 c of flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 c vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 3/4 tsp of pumpkin spice
1 1/4 c sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

Pecan Streusel topping: (I HIGHLY recommend taking the extra three minutes to use this on the muffins)

1/4 c of chopped roasted pecans (If you buy prepackaged pecans at the store in the baking aisle, chances are they've already been roasted)
3 Tbsp of brown sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp of flour
2 Tbsp of butter

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. combine baking powder and 1 1/2 c flour

In a separate, larger bowl:
1. mix pumpkin, vegetable oil, eggs, spices, sugar, salt and baking soda
2. add the flour/baking powder combination to this
3. stir until all lumps are out and it is a smooth, batter-like mixture.
4. Pour into greased/oiled/whatever muffin pan (makes 12 large to normal sized muffins). I filled mine up at LEAST 3/4 of the way, and I still had batter leftover.

Streusel
1. Soften butter
2. Mix butter, chopped pecans, flour, and sugar.
3. Sprinkle on top of muffins

Bake for 30 minutes, turn off heat in the oven and let them sit for a few more minutes.
Remove pan, wait a couple of minutes, then remove muffins and set on cooling rack.

After they had cooled significantly but were still a bit warm, I placed them on a plate and covered them. I know this is supposedly a no-no, but with cookies or other items you want moist or chewy, this is a great way to ensure that happens.

Enjoy!

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