Pumpkin Pie Muffins

Hello! Thank you for all your super sweet comments you left me on my last post. :)Yesterday my kids were off from school for Columbus Day and we made my favorite pumpkin muffins. My favorite recipe is from Ellie Krieger and it is called Pumpkin Pie Muffins. They are really fabulous! And they are made only with dark brown sugar, half whole wheat flour, and every scrumptious autumn baking ingredient you can imagine. I am a big fan of all her recipes actually. I added little leaves for muffin toppers.

I ran out of muffin liners, so I decided to try and make my own European style parchment paper ones. Just cut out 5 x 5 inch parchment paper squares. Spray muffin pan with vegetable spray and press in and crease to form the cups. This part was a little tricky, so I used small juice glasses to help keep the liners down until I spooned in the muffin batter. These are very delicious autumn muffins and I like the addition of crunch from the pumpkin seeds sprinkled on top before baking.

I also made a simple fall candle look by scotch taping on small leaves to simple glass votive cups. They look very pretty catching the silhouette of the leaves; especially in the dark.

On Sunday, we went for a drive to a wooded subdivision just a few minutes from my house and there was some trees at full autumn color ~ I just had to take some pictures! This is when I accidentally looked right into the sun for about 2 seconds through my lens. I know better, but it happened. What a stupid mistake! It took me about an hour for my eyes to feel back to normal. I learned my lesson!

I hope you get to try this recipe! I make it every autumn - a keeper muffin recipe indeed! :)

Pumpkin Pie Muffins from Ellie Krieger

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

3 tablespoons molasses (I use Brer Rabbit mild available at Target)

1/4 cup canola oil

2 large eggs (room temperature)

1 cup canned pumpkin puree

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup (preferably raw) pumpkin seeds

In a medium bowl whisk together: flours, baking soda, salt, and spices. Set aside

In a large bowl whisk together: dark brown sugar, molasses, canola oil, and ONE of the eggs. Add the second egg and whisk until all combined. Whisk in the pumpkin and vanilla extract and stir in the flour mixture alternating with adding in the buttermilk just until combined. Sprinkle tops of muffins with pumpkin seeds and then give the pan a good few taps to get out any air bubbles.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. Enjoy!