The Best Pumpkin Muffins Ever

Note: Thursday is the new Baking Day in our house where my daughter and I make a fun mess in the kitchen. And so I wanted to share with you the goodies we learn to make. We try to mostly snack on plain foods like dried or fresh fruit, smoked salmon, cheese, nuts, rice crackers and yogurt but once a week, we freely welcome flour and sugar in our house. Of course, sometimes it happens more than once a week, but we try.  

Don’t you love Fall? I don’t know anyone who doesn’t.

This year, we visited as many farms as we could as a family. Our favorite of course was the farm where my daughter got to ride a pony. A small sustainable farm in Carnation, WA where a neighboring stable provided pony rides to the littles. Oh how she loved it.

But this post isn’t about farms and ponies, really. It’s about how I finally used a pumpkin bought from a farm, not straight out of a can.

Yes!

Teeny weeny steps towards a life more local and sustainable.

(Of course I had to talk about autumn first, to get to farms to get to pumpkins. Welcome to my brain.)

Seriously though. If you are still using the canned version, get thee to a farm this weekend before it’s all over, buy a pumpkin for consumption and not just decoration! Stick that pumpkin in the oven for an hour (cut it in half first, get the seeds out and such) and you have yourself a better-than-canned-variety.

And so with that lovely pumpkin we made a healthier version of Pumpkin Muffins. I was envisioning adding yogurt cheese of some sort in the middle but forgot all about it. Maybe next time. I made these muffins a bit healthier by substituting spelt flour for half the flour, substituting coconut sugar (which has lower glycemic index for those of you watching your GI intake) and using less of it, adding good-for-you spices, and using pastured eggs and real butter (no yucky vegetable oil please!)

We drank it up with a warm cup of Apple Cider (to which I added a teaspoon of Apple Cider Vinegar to boost its nutritional value) and gave away the rest to our neighbors and friends.

(Healthier) Pumpkin Muffins

(Adapted from Ellie Krieger at the Food Network)

Ingredients

• Coconut Oil
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup spelt 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
• 1/2 cup coconut palm sugar
• 3 tablespoons unsulphered molasses
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup cooked pumpkin
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup raw, unsalted pumpkin seeds (I used peanuts because I wanted to save our pumpkin seeds for a project later.)

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a 12-cup muffin pan with coconut oil or line the pan with muffin paper cups.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda, salt and the spices.

In a large bowl, combine the sugar, molasses, oil and and eggs. Add in the pumpkin and vanilla until well mixed. Pour in the flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the buttermilk. Whisk until combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared muffin pan and sprinkle with the pumpkin seeds (or nuts). 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.

Enjoy!