I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it’s fall, and when it’s fall, food blogs absolutely EXPLODE with pumpkin recipes. These happened more by accident than careful planning. I picked Katie Lee Joel’s The Comfort Table and while going through it, looking for things to make this week, I came across her recipe for Pumpkin Muffins, and I realized I had everything already in the kitchen to make these.
The recipes in this book look good, but nothing to really write home about. I have to wonder if this book would have been a thing if the author hadn’t, at one time, been married to Billy Joel.
On to the muffins. . .
When I started making these, looking at the picture in the book, they didn’t look. . .awesome. The ones in the book were those kind of flat muffins that look more like cupcakes than something you’d have with a cup of coffee for breakfast. But the ones I pulled out of my oven were tall and texturous (is that a word?) and delicious. Legitimately, one of the best muffins I’ve ever tried.
I made a couple of changes to the recipe (of course). First of all, I added chocolate chips. The original recipe was strictly pumpkin, but I’d just picked up some chocolate chips “just in case,” and decided to throw some of those in as well. They made all the difference.
Secondly, the recipe called for 2 cups of sugar. That seemed excessive to me (although when I asked Dennis how much sugar was average for muffins, he said, “I don’t know. Two or three?” so what do I know? Anyway, I put 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of Splenda in the batter, and they turned out awesomely.
Makes 12 muffins
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups sugar (or 1 cup sugar, 1 cup Splenda or 2 cups Splenda)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 15-oz. can pumpkin puree
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin.
In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
In a medium bowl, beat together sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Add pumpkin and mix well. Add the dry ingredients and stir until combined.
Pour batter into the muffin tin and bake for 20-24 minutes (mine took 23). Let cool on wire rack. (Or don’t. They’re amazing when they’re hot.)
