Eat Sweet! And the best Pumpkin Muffins recipe ever, for real.

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I haven't documented most of the delicious things I've been whipping up lately.  I haven't really even taken pictures of most of it, but here is a small sampling.

Healthy Raspberry Crumb Bars 

(A good way to use up raspberries that got smashed in transportation)

Fresh Corn Soup 

(so silky and sweet)

Pumpkin Pie 

(The Libby's recipe on the can has never let me down.  I made this one with a graham cracker crust.)

S'mores Cereal Treats

(Must have been a pregnancy craving).

I promise I don't only eat sweet things.  All of these goods were made when I got my baking/cooking mojo back after those "awesome" first 20 weeks or so of pregnancy.  Since then, I've been cooking more savory meal-type things, but I'm usually too hungry to bother with documentation.

Anyway, by far and away, the best thing I have made in the past month or two are these Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins!

It is definitely blog-worthy, so I've published the recipe below, but first I have to add a few notes.  I didn't have whole-grain pastry flour, but I did have regular whole wheat flour so I used 2/3 cup to 1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour.  This worked perfectly.  You could probably still do the 1:1 cup ratio, but I don't recommend going any heavier on the whole wheat flour, or you'll have dense, hockey-puck muffins.  And obviously, if you're using the whole grain pastry flour (which is lighter) you can stick with the recipe exactly.

I also didn't have buttermilk on hand, but I used the 1 Tbsp lemon juice trick added to regular milk (or you can use vinegar) to mimic the acidic effects of buttermilk. It helps with both flavor and the rise of the muffins. Just do this step first if you don't have real buttermilk and let it sit about five minutes.  Magical.

The molasses adds a slight sweet/smoky rich aroma and flavor that is an essential element to these muffins.  I highly recommend trying it.    

Lastly, and most importantly.  I didn't have pumpkin seeds, which I'm sure would have added a nice crunch, but I wanted chocolate anyway, so go for the chocolate.  Chocolate wins every time!

And by the way, these made more than 12 muffins, so I baked up about 8 or so mini muffins as well.  Just watch them because they will obviously bake up faster (about 12 minutes or so).

Ellie Krieger's Pumpkin Muffins

Ingredients

• 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

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a 12-cup muffin pan withcooking 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.

Fudgy Berry Chip Muffins, healthified

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I had a serious craving for some chocolate muffins Thursday night, but didn't get around to making them until I had some time Saturday morning. This recipe is one I found on allrecipes.com when I was a teenager around 12 years ago. Yes, I have been using the Internet to find recipes for a long time! It was the first time I had used applesauce in a baked goods recipe--and it did not disappoint. It makes theses muffins "fudgy" and moist. I have gone back to this recipe time and time again since my teenage baking days.

This time around, I decided to adapt the recipe for high altitude (because I live in Utah now, but obviously I didn't do that in Pennsylvania) and make absolutely certain I didn't over bake them. Also, I wanted to add a little more nutrition, so I substituted half wheat flour for the white flour. Finally, I wanted to add an additional dimension of a sweet, tart textured chew to these already perfect muffins, so I added mixed berries (from my freezer--Costco has the best blend--raspberries, blueberries, and marionberries! YUM!)


So satisfying! I ate two and was left wanting more, but after all they are "healthified," not necessarily "healthy," so I decided not to overindulge.

Here's the recipe with editorial notes and modifications in RED.

Ingredients
1/2 cup applesauce (that's one individual cup, if you buy the six pack version)
1/4 cup butter, softened (original recipe calls for margarine but I NEVER bake with margarine, ick.)
1/2 cup white sugar (minus 1 Tbsp, *high altitude variation)
1/2 cup light brown sugar (minus 1 Tbsp, *high altitude variation)
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons milk (approximately, I used skim because that's what I had; it just needs a touch more moisture, *high altitude variation)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup wheat flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (today I used Hershey's special dark cocoa)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda (1/4 teaspoon, *high altitude variation)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional-not optional, I add 1/4 teaspoon (not really measured) more; it's a perfect compliment to the chocolate and applesauce)
1 cup (-ish) semi-sweet chocolate chips (didn't measure and probably used a little less because of the added berries)
1 cup frozen mixed berry blend, no need to thaw
2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar (optional--no, not optional; it dresses these muffins perfectly!)

Directions
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups (foil works too).
2.In large mixer bowl, beat butter, sugar, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, and milk until well blended. (Works way better if all ingredients are room temperature.) Add applesauce, blend well.
3.In a separate bowl, stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and cinnamon, if desired. Add to butter mixture, blending well. Stir in chocolate chips. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full with batter.
4.Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 22 to 26 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out almost clean. (Very important to pull them out as soon as the tops spring back and the toothpicks come out almost clean--careful not to confuse the batter with a chocolate chip--you don't want to dry these out.) Cool slightly in pan on wire rack. Sprinkle muffin tops with confectioners' sugar, if desired. Serve warm with a cold glass of milk! And yes, they are delicious warm.

Sometimes I freeze these in a Ziploc freezer bag for a fresh chocolaty breakfast anytime I want. Otherwise, store in some Tupperware for snacking later on. Oh, and I usually store them in the fridge just so they keep fresher longer. And I kind of like them when the chocolate chips are hard again--I freeze cookies fresh out of the oven just to harden the chips again--is that weird?

And now here's a baker's tip:

I was very embarrassed to share this picture of the freshly baked Fudgy Berry Chip Muffins, healthified because look out disgusting my muffin pan is getting. By the way this is a Wilton pan and Cooks Illustrated rated it as the best and I have to agree. Anyway, I thoroughly scrub this pan (or wash in the dishwasher) after baking, but sometimes those brown sticky (usually from Pam spray, etc.) just won't scrub off. Well, want to know how to get it off?

Take a crumpled up piece of foil (homemade steel wool) and vigorously--and I mean put some elbow into it--scrub the pan. Then wash with a soapy sponge.

And voila, it really does work. As you can see, it does take some scrubbing and I probably could scrub just a little more on that right corner, but that really is the same pan! Not too shabby, eh?