If you’re a food blogger, you may have noticed a common theme circulating throughout the blogosphere lately. One word: PUMPKIN!
I am not a huge fan of pumpkin. I like it, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t look forward to pumpkin flavored everything like many of my blogger friends do. My husband did ask me to make pumpkin bread this morning and, since I have two cans stashed away in my pantry, I gave in.
I do love a thick slice of pumpkin bread toasted up so it’s slightly crunchy and slathered with some Brummel and Brown. The warmth of the flavors and the sweetness of the butter always reminds me of fall. This morning, however, because my loaf pans are covered in rust and need to be pitched in an attempt at portion control, I made muffins instead of a loaf.
As the muffins sat cooling in their pans, I threw together a little cinnamon butter as well. It was the perfect morning snack!
Pumpkin Muffins with Cinnamon Butter
(adapted from allrecipes.com)
1 can pumpkin puree
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil (would have done 1/2 oil 1/2 applesauce if I had had any)
2/3 cup water
3 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp ginger
Preheat oven to 350º and grease your muffin tins. My batch made 21 muffins. In one bowl, combine pumpkin, eggs, oil, water, sugar, and vanilla. Combine thoroughly.
In a separate bowl, wisk together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger.
Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture slowly. Mix until just combined. When all the flour has been incorporated, (in the words of Alton Brown) WALK AWAY. JUST WALK AWAY! Yes, there will be lumps. Yes, you will want to keep stirring to break some of them up. DON’T DO IT!
Just grab a small ice cream scoop and scoop the mixture into the prepared muffin tins.
Pop them in the oven for 30 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
While your muffins are baking, let some butter come to room temperature (or grab a tub of Brummel and Brown, which mixes well even straight from the fridge). Combine the butter with some cinnamon (the amount is up to you) until well mixed.
You could wait for the muffins to cool or do like I did: grab one with your fingers mere minutes out of the oven and slather on some cinnamon butter. The warm muffins will melt the butter and the combination tastes like dessert.
You could also whip up a batch of Jenna’s Brown Sugar Italian Buttercream to top said muffins for an even more devilish dessert. The choice is yours. But I know what I’d choose…
