Ahhh….October! Finally! I don’t know about y’all, but Fall is one of my favorite seasons. I love seeing the leaves change color on the trees, the days start getting brisk and windy (scarf season!), and it’s finally cold enough to cozy up to a roaring fire in my fireplace (well…sometimes it’s cold enough in October. Crazy Texas weather means you can never guarantee when that first fire is going to happen!).
One thing that most everyone associates with October…PUMPKINS!
Whether it’s Pumpkin Spice Lattes from that oh-so-well-known coffee shop, decorating/carving pumpkins for Fall Festivals / Halloween, or anticipating pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, the fall season definitely brings about lots of thoughts about pumpkins.
So today, I’d like to share with you one of our favorite pumpkin recipes:
Pumpkin Spice Muffins by Kate Rudasill
I found this recipe several years ago on The Pioneer Woman’s blog and we started making them for some of our ladies’ retreats during the fall retreat season. (If you’ve never checked out her website, she’s got lots of fantastic recipes and stories of life with her husband and four kids on a cattle ranch in Oklahoma. www.thepioneerwoman.com) These muffins are quick and easy to make; can be eaten for breakfast with a little bit of butter or as dessert with a little bit of cream cheese icing; can be made ahead of time and frozen; and the pumpkin flavor isn’t overwhelming! Even people who aren’t crazy about all things pumpkin have told me that they love these muffins.
So mix up a batch today, watch the leaves start falling, and get excited about cooler temperatures!
Ingredients for pumpkin spice muffins: all purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg, ground cloves, salt, butter, canned pumpkin, evaporated milk, eggs, and vanilla.
Begin by preheating your oven to 375˚F. Spray muffin pans with non-stick spray or line with paper muffin cups. For this batch, I used both mini- and regular-sized muffin pans.
In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and salt.
Cut in butter with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
In a separate bowl, mix canned pumpkin, milk, eggs, and vanilla. It is easier to use a fork to whip the eggs a little before you add them to the rest of the ingredients. Makes it a little less messy when mixing and ensures that the eggs get incorporated well. Obviously from the pictures I forgot this step!
Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture. There are those nested glass bowls again! I love using them to pre-measure ingredients!
Fold until just combined, being careful to not over mix the batter. A good rubber spatula makes this job a lot easier!
Divide into prepared muffin pans (about ½ – ¾ full each) using two spoons or an ice cream scoop.
Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.
Bake muffins for 20-25 minutes in preheated oven until cooked through. Mini muffins usually take about 10-12 minutes. Be careful to not bake them too long or they get a little dry. Let cool in pans for 5-10 minutes, then remove and cool completely on a wire rack.
I sure hope you and your family enjoy these muffins as much as we do! They don’t last long around here, and most of the time we can’t wait for them to cool before breaking into them!
Pumpkin Spice Muffins
slightly adapted from www.thepioneerwoman.com
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ tablespoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon salt
1 stick butter, cut into small cubes
2 cups (heaping) canned pumpkin
– I use 1 ½ (15 oz) cans to get 2 heaping cups
1 cup evaporated milk
2 eggs, beaten
1 tablespoon vanilla
3-4 tablespoons cinnamon sugar
Preheat oven to 375˚F. Grease muffin pans or line with paper muffin cups. In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Cut in butter with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. In a separate bowl, blend pumpkin, milk, eggs, and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and fold until just combined. Divide into prepared muffin pans (about ½ – ¾ full each). Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake muffins for 20-25 minutes in preheated oven. Let cool in pans for 5-10 minutes, then remove and cool completely.