October 30, 2009

Pumpkin Pie Muffins

Another muffin post? Another Ellie Krieger post? I promise I’ll get out of this habit of redundancy, I do have some posts coming up that feature different recipes, and some exciting news! This post is a day late, sorry Craving Ellie in My Belly members. I was unusually busy yesterday and didn’t have time to post. However, I was super excited when I saw this recipe, chosen by Oddball Oven Mitt, was up for the week of Halloween.

Time for another Ellie Krieger recipe analysis. This muffin recipe has somewhat of a large list of ingredients that might be hard to find for some people. I noticed a few Craving Ellie members and some people who reviewed the recipe on FoodNetwork.com made some ingredient swaps. Applesauce or yogurt for the canola oil, maple syrup for the molasses (I think I might try that if I ever make this recipe again), doubling the spices, adding chocolate chips (might try that too), or adding pecans or walnuts. I made the recipe as written except for the pumpkin seeds, I couldn’t find any at the 2 of my local grocery stores I tried (weird, right?).

My verdict on the muffins? They were good, but not amazing. They were more ‘spicy’ than sweet, which makes them nice for breakfast or a snack. I used a generous hand when measuring the spices since some reviewers complained that the muffins were too bland and would double the spices next time. I definitely think I missed out on a necessary texture component by excluding the pumpkin seeds, these muffins needed a little crunch. They were very moist in texture though, which is hard to achieve when making a healthy recipe so props to Ellie. If I make them again I would swap the molasses for maple syrup and perhaps make a pecan-brown sugar topping and bake them in muffin liners so they look cuter (yes, cuteness should be a factor!).

Pumpkin Pie Muffins

Cooking spray
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-grain pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground 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 unsulphered molasses
1/4 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup lowfat buttermilk
1/4 cup raw, unsalted pumpkin seeds

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose and whole-wheat flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg.

In a large bowl, whisk the sugar, molasses, oil and 1 egg until combined. Add the other egg and whisk well. Whisk in the pumpkin and vanilla. Whisk in the flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the buttermilk. Whisk just until combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared muffin pan and sprinkle with the pumpkin seeds. Tap the pan on the counter a few times to remove any air bubbles. Bake for 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center of 1 of the muffins comes out clean.

Let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the muffins to loosen them and unmold. Cool completely on the rack.

breakfast, fall, healthy, muffin, recipe

5 comments »

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Bedroom Talk — October 30, 2009 at 9:35 pm

Ahhh I had the same problem with a pumpkin seed shortage. Definitly going to try these, I've been on the hunt for spiced recipes so I can duplicate Crumbs cupcake recipes. Can't wait to see more holiday recipes
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thenotsoskinnykitchen — October 31, 2009 at 12:52 am

I agree that they were more spice than sweet; I think I would have liked a bit more sweet. I also wanted to taste the pumpkin more, but I still thought they turned out pretty well. I loved how moist they were!
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Sara — October 31, 2009 at 4:47 am

I also left out the pumpkin seeds, but you are probably right about the texture thing, a crunch would be nice.
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EatSeed — September 29, 2012 at 10:53 am

Have no fear about the pumpkin seeds! Check out http://www.eatseed.com , they are on special this month too.