Recipe: Pumpkin Spice Muffins

When I'm pregnant, my "nesting" generally takes the form of baking. I've been resisting the urge this time because I don't want to gain as much weight as I did with Claire. Plus, now that I have Claire that means my baking wouldn't start until later and I'd have to wash dishes and I just don't have the energy for all that like I did 5 years ago. But this weekend, I decide to roast a pumpkin to make homemade pumpkin purée. I don't own a food processor (at least I won't until Christmas) so I used my immersion blender to purée the pumpkin which means it is better for putting in breads instead of soup or pie.

After roasting the pumpkin, I put it in the fridge until the next night because that was all the baking energy I had. Plus I couldn't decide what to make...there are so many delicious looking pumpkin recipes floating around on pinterest right now!



I eventually settled on my tried and true (and delicious) pumpkin spice muffins that I have been making every fall for 5 years - made the first time the year I was pregnant with Claire! It's one of the best kinds of recipes with stains & hand-written notes all over it.

2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 cup butter (melted and cooled)
1/2 cup pumpkin purée (canned or fresh)
2 eggs
1/3 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees, grease or paper line muffin tins. This will make 12 regular muffins, or about 36 mini muffins.

Combine flour, sugars, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, baking soda, ginger and nutmeg in a large bowl using whisk. Combine butter, pumpkin, eggs and buttermilk in a medium bowl using a fork or whisk. Add wet mix to flour mixture, stir (with a wooden spoon or spatula, not a whisk) until just moistened. Spoon into prepared muffin tins, filling about 3/4 full.

Bake regular muffins for about 17 minutes, cool in pan for 5 minutes then remove to wire rack to cool.
Bake mini muffins for about 10 minutes, cool in pan for 5 minutes then remove to rack to cool (or just dump them in a plastic container but leave the lid off until they are cool).



These muffins are delicious! I actually doubled the recipe when I made these on Sunday and ended up making 12 smallish, regular sized muffins and 60 mini muffins. We ate at least a dozen of the mini muffins and then I took the rest of the minis to work on Monday morning. One of my co-workers said they taste like autumn. And they all disappeared rather quickly!