Happy Tuesday! I don't know about you, but my office was closed yesterday, meaning that I had a nice, long three-day weekend. I spent it celebrating a friend's engagement, shopping like mad in SoHo with my mom and sisters, eating fast food and watching Jersey Shore with the hubs, visiting with family and baking a boatload of apple pies...more on that later. I'm still spent this morning though since Shaun and I were up watching the Jets beat up on the Vikings last night (ok, I may have fallen asleep way before the end of the game, but still...).
I'm not sure if it's the Fall season, more time at home or the impending holidays but lately I've had a major jonesing for getting my bake on. It seems that all I want to do is bake up delicious treats, much to the chagrin of my waistline, I might add. So after I cleaned out my local A+P of their entire stash of pumpkin, I knew that the day of whipping up some pumpkin baked goods had finally arrived.
For my first pumpkin treat of the season, I whipped up a batch of whole wheat pumpkin muffins. By substituting whole wheat flour for all purpose and drizzling with a pumpkin spice glaze, I amped up the flavor and texture on these delectable little treats. And ya gotta love that muffins as a whole could not be easier to make. No hand or stand mixers, no beating until your arm goes numb. Just putting some simple ingredients together and gently mixing is all it takes to get 'er done.
Whole Wheat Pumpkin Muffins
*Adapted from Muffins
1 C whole wheat flour
1/2 C sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 C butter
1 egg
1/2 C pumpkin puree
1/2 C evaporated milk
1/2 C raisins, optional (I omitted them)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Fill muffin cups with paper liners. In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles cornmeal. I used two knives and then got down 'n dirty with my own two hands.
In a separate bowl, comgine the egg with pumpkin and milk. If including raisins (I didn't), add them.
Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Don't overmix or you'll end up with one tough muffin.
Fill muffin cups about half way full and bake for 15-18 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Mine were done after 15 minutes.
Let cool. Drizzle with Sweet Spice Glaze.
Sweet Spice Glaze
1/4 C confectioners' sugar
1 tbsp milk
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
Whisk all together in a bowl.
If it isn't thin enough to drizzle, add more milk until desired thickness.
Serve on a pretty plate, and you're set for your next gathering or even for a special evening at home. I Fall-ified mine even further by jazzing them up on this sweet plate that was gifted to us by our dear friends Ryan and Kristen at our mini housewarming party a few weeks ago. Isn't it just adorable? I couldn't wait to break it out for something as delicious as pumpkin muffins.
So there you have it, a little roundup of my baking frenzy. And these delicious, light as a feather muffins can easily be prepared on a weeknight since the entire process took about 20 minutes. Shaun and I had these muffins all week long and it was such a wonderful autumn treat after work each night!
So what do you think? Has your holiday baking bug kicked in yet? Are you obsessing over Fall flavors like I am? What's your favorite treat thus far? Any plans for yummy Fall eats this week?
Psst...for more heavenly Fall eats, check out my Apple Cupcakes + Cinnamon Frosting, a sure fire crowd pleaser!