That's right folks. The most wonderful time of the year is upon us. It's pumpkin season. And all of the greatest holidays seem to fall into pumpkin season. Halloween (beloved only for the freedom to increase my chocolate consumption), Thanksgiving (hello, buffet of delight!), and Christmas (and Christmas cookies, and Christmas pies, and Christmas brownies, and Christmas coffee cake...). Like I said, it's the most wonderful time of the year.
I've been craving pumpkin ever since Starbucks brought back the pumpkin spice latte (speaking of which, if anyone knows where I can buy my own pumpkin spice syrup, I will bake you anything you want). So now I've stocked my shelves with pumpkin and I'm ready to dive into fall/winter baking. (I am willing to completely ignore the fact that it is currently 86 degrees in Kentucky.)
So this brings us to today's culinary delight. Pumpkin-cranberry muffins. I've adapted this recipe from a Betty Crocker Fall Baking book that my mom sent me in a fall gift package at some point in my college career. Thanks, Mom!
Here's what you'll need:
-2 cups whole wheat flour
-3/4 cup sugar
-3 teaspoons baking powder
-1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
-1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
-1/4 teaspoon salt
-1 cup canned pumpkin
-1/2 cup canola oil
-2 eggs
-1 cup craisins
-1/2 cup chopped pecans
-sugar in the raw, for sprinkling
Here's what to do:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare 12 muffin cups with cooking spray or muffins cups.
2. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, and salt in a bowl. Stir in pumpkin, canola oil, eggs, craisins, and pecans until well-moistened. Divide batter among muffin cups.
3. Sprinkle with sugar in the raw.
4. Bake 20-25 minutes.
Enjoy a delightful taste of fall! You're going to love it!
Since I can't stand spending $3-4 on a PSL from Sbux... I Googled how to make your own syrup, and it's awesome!
ReplyDeletePumpkin Syrup
1/3 cup pumpkin puree (fresh or canned)
1/2 cup vanilla sugar + 1/2 cup regular sugar (if you don’t have vanilla sugar, just add 1/2 tsp vanilla to the recipe)
1.25 cups water
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp ground ginger
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook over medium heat, stirring to keep the syrup from burning. Let the mixture cook together until it’s starting to coat the spoon (about 10 minutes) and remove from heat.
Store in a heat proof container in the fridge.
Heat syrup with coffee or milk before mixing into coffee.
YUM!
The Coopers