I woke up this morning to go walking with Mom at 5:30 and I almost put on a jacket. That’s right ladies and gentlemen! It is the middle of August and I wanted to put on a jacket because it was actually chilly (no… not Chile!). I know we are still in the dog days of summer, but I couldn’t help but enjoy the gorgeous weather today, so when we got back, Mom and I opened all the doors and windows to get the fresh cool breezes running through the house. While finishing my workout (the Tone it Up Bikini Body 2 video!) I began craving pumpkin… which means it’s a downhill spiral from here. Once I start craving pumpkin, everything I make has some aspect of it in it. Okay maybe that’s a bit exaggerated, but if I look back at last fall, get ready for probably too many some delicious pumpkin recipes and crafts!
So once I finished, I didn’t even take the time to shower- I got on Pinterest and started scouring it for some healthy pumpkin muffin recipes… and I think I found a winner! I am currently eating one as I type (for you know… inspiration…) and they are so moist, flavorful, pumpkin-y and really just plain yummy. I changed the original recipe up a bit- “is for fun”- and really loved the results. I know I’ll be making these muffins all fall… and winter… and probably summer and spring too. What can I say? I love pumpkin. Now I’m hoping my siblings don’t eat too many so I have some to munch on all day…
Muffin Ingredients:
1 can pumpkin (15 oz)
1/2 unsweetened applesauce
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup Stevia
1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice (or more if you’re me…)
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 cup raw, uncooked quinoa
1/8 cup chia seeds
1/4 cup raw sunflowerseeds
Topping Ingredients:
1/4 cup (or so) chopped pecans
1/4 cup granola (I used some I got at Whole Foods)
1/8 cup brown sugar
Preheat oven to 350. Spray nonstick cooking spray on the bottoms of muffin pan.
Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl… I’m too lazy to do wet and dry ingredients in separate bowls! Who wants to wash all that?!
Pour batter into each muffin spot (I’m not quite sure of the correct terminology…) and try and fill it about 3/4 of the way full. I just put about 1/4 cup of batter into each spot and it worked fine. I patted it all down into the pan so it would fill it completely.
Mix the topping ingredients together in a small bowl and sprinkle a bit over each unbaked muffin. You don’t have to add the topping, but it gave the muffins a nice crunch and flavor that we all enjoyed!
Bake until muffins are slightly puffed and golden brown, about 23-25 minutes. To make sure they were done, I checked the middle muffins by putting a toothpick through the middle of each and seeing if it came out clean or not. Clean means done, wet means bake some more.
Once they were done, I left them in the pans till they were cooled a bit, then took them out and set them on a plate to finish cooling! They tasted great with some local honey I added on top.
My recipe made 25 muffins.
[…] I love muffin tins because you can make portioned versions of your favorite recipes, they cook faster and it makes it easier to take your meals on-the-go. I usually use the muffin tins for breakfast foods, but they can be used for all kinds of other things too! These are some of my favorite recipes to make using muffin tins: Carrot Cake Baked Oatmeal Muffins Egg fritattas Smoothie Cups (which I’m going to try this week!) Hard Boiled Eggs Pumpkin Muffins […]