Pumpkin Spice Muffins

I've been wanting to bake something with pumpkin since carving my little sisters Halloween pumpkin this year. I looked at a few different recipes and couldn't find anyting that really jumped out at me. I took a few different recipes and put them together to create this recipe. They came out really dang good - I hope you try them and like them as well as we did...

The Dry Stuff:
3 Cups Bread flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp Baking soda
1 tsp Salt, table
3/4 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Ginger
1/2 tsp Cloves

The Wet Stuff:
2 Cups Sugar
3 Eggs
1 1/2 Cups Pumpkin, roasted and mashed, or 1 can
1/2 Cup Water
1/4 Cup Vege oil
1/4 Cup Butter, melted

The Optional Stuff (but highly recommended):
1 Cup Pecans, chopped

In a bowl add all the dry stuff and use a whisk to blend it all together - set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, add the wet stuff and mix for a minute or so until it is well mixed. Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and combine until well incorporated. Stir in the nuts.

Cover the batter and allow to sit at room temp for 30 min to an hour.

Preheat the oven to 400 F

Put muffin cups into the muffin tray and fill 2/3 full. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick (or knife) comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Eat & Enjoy!

Happy Baking!

Nikko

--

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins - Made In A KitchenAid Mixer

I'm not much for baking but I have been trying my hand at it more and more lately. I looked at a dozen or so recipes and adapted this one from a few that I liked. This was my first time making these and I found a few things that I would change. The first would be to add more lemon extract to the mix to help bring out the lemon flavor. They tasted good from the first go around, but they could have been more lemony. I added a midge more to the recipe below. I also used the Ferrari (KitchenAid Mixer) to make this batch...

The Stuff:
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp table salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened to room temp
1 cup white granulated sugar
lemon zest from 2 lemons
2 large eggs
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp pure lemon extract (I got mine from www.penzeys.com )
1 cup sour cream
2 Tbsp poppy seeds

For the glaze:
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp pure lemon extract
4 Tbsp powdered sugar

Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium size bowl whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a bowl, and set aside.

In the mixing bowl of your mixer, beat the butter, sugar, and lemon zest, until light and creamy - This will take a few minutes. I started slow at level 2 then moved up to 7. Beat the eggs into the mixture one at a time mixing the first one thoroughly before adding the second. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl at least once during this process. Mix in 1/3 of the flour mixture until just combined - do this gently don't go over level 2. Mix in the lemon juice, extract, and 1/2 of the sour cream until combined.

Add half of the remaining flour mixture, and gently mix until combined. Mix in the remaining sour cream then once combined, mix in the rest of the flour mixture, and the poppy seeds.

You will need to line a muffin tin that will has room for 12 muffins. Put a paper baking cup in each space, and fill to the top with the batter. Bake for 30 minutes, or until golden brown. They will be done when you can insert a toothpick and it comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let sit for 5 minutes - while they are cooling mix the powdered sugar together with the lemon juice and extract to create a thin glaze.

You can either drizzle or brush the lemon glaze over the top of each muffin. You don't have to add this to the muffins, but I like how it looks, and the extra lemon taste...

When cool enough to handle, remove muffins from the tins and cool completely on a rack before serving.

Eat & Enjoy!

Happy Cooking & Eating,

~Nikko

P.S. Next time I make these I'll make a video...