Whole Wheat Pumpkin Muffins with Sweet Spice Glaze

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!

Start Spreading the Butter...Pumpkin Butter

Just when I thought my love of pumpkin had come to total fruition with my Ginger Snap Crusted Pumpkin Pie, I dug up this article from Smitten Kitchen. The idea of making my own pumpkin butter had never occurred to me, but after seeing SK's beautiful photos, I could almost smell the simmering fall spices that comprise this fabulous spread. Sure I could head out to Williams Sonoma and snap up this little 13 oz jar of deliciousness for $9.95, but really? It's pumpkin butter. And by making my own I have enough for a small army packed away in my fridge.

Less like actual butter and more like a jam or spread, pumpkin butter is pretty fabulous on just about anything...toast, breads, biscuits, by the heaping spoonful, and I've heard it's pretty fabulous swirled into some vanilla yogurt (the latter is yet to be personally tested). And the very, very best part? It couldn't be easier to make.
Initially adapted from Allrecipes.com, check out SK's recipe along with (of course) my own personal changes.

Pumpkin Butter
Adapted from AllRecipes
1 (29 ounce) can pumpkin puree, approx. 3 1/2 cups (I used 2 15oz cans)
3/4 cup apple juice (I used more like 1 full cup of the stuff)
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves (Due to the pungent nature of cloves, I used only 1/4 tsp)
1 1/3 cups brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Juice of half a lemon (I left this out...mainly because when I got all my ingredients out and ready I realized that (gasp!) my fruit drawer had no lemons to speak of)

1. Combine pumpkin, apple juice, spices, and sugar in a large saucepan; stir well. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes or until thickened. Stir frequently. Adjust spices to taste. If you are in possession of lemon, stir it in to taste.
2. Once cool, pumpkin butter can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge. Though the original recipe calls for actual 'canning' of the pumpkin butter, apparently this is highly frowned upon by government agencies. Not wanting to increase my risk for cancer, nor do I feel the need to learn anything about canning, I'm going with basic storage in the refrigerator.

So what do you think? Pumpkiny enough for you? Have any of you tried store-bought pumpkin butter - or any other butters for that matter - that've rocked your autumn world?

Taste of Fall: Ginger Snap Crusted Pumpkin Pie

Though I may have alluded to my pumpkin obsession, I'm not sure that I've really expressed the seriousness of the situation. I love pumpkin. There I said it. I LOVE PUMPKIN! It is really one of my favorite flavors and ingredients. Since it only makes an appearance for a short time during the year, I try to soak up as much pumpkin as possible. This past weekend I whipped up one of my favorite, down home desserts - a traditional pumpkin pie.

If you love pumpkin and/or are looking for a great Thanksgiving dessert, give this one a whirl! Just one thing I need to mention. I beg you - if you do one thing with this recipe, please please please make your own crust. It seriously is the easiest part and you cannot believe the difference. Take it from my own personal experience: The first time I made this pumpkin pie, I used a pre-made crust. While the pumpkin part was obviously delicious and wonderful, the crust...not so much. And in my personal opinion, the crust is just as important as the pie. And since this super simple crust is easy as pie, there are no excuses. Homemade crust is a must! Ok, I'm now off my soapbox. Let's get down to the recipe.

Delicious pumpkin pie, made possible by some standard fall ingredients! 

Crust:
For the crust, I changed up the traditional graham cracker for ginger snaps. While I still think graham cracker crusts are fabulous, I wanted to try something new for this recipe. If you're not into ginger snaps, substitute 24 graham crackers for the 24 ginger snaps.
24 Ginger Snap cookies
1/2 stick butter, melted

Pie:
The pie filling is adapted from the classic LIBBY'S recipe. You can view the original ingredients below and note my changes in parentheses. 
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves (I used 1/8 tsp cloves and 1/8 tsp nutmeg)
2 large eggs
1 can (15 oz.) LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin (Make sure you use pure pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling!)
1 can (12 fl. oz.) Evaporated Milk (I took this opportunity to cut a little fat and used Fat Free Evap Milk)
1 unbaked 9-inch (4-cup volume) deep-dish pie shell (Noooooo! See above rant and subsequent crust recipe)
Whipped cream, optional (If you know me at all, you know that this is in no way optional)

Put it all together:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

- Place ginger snaps in food processor and process until coarse crumbs - but don't over-blend!

- In microwave, melt butter. Then, add melted butter to processed ginger snaps in food processor. Pulse a few times until butter is combined.

- Press ginger snap crumbs into 9-inch pie plate. You may need to roll up your sleeves on this one and get your hands dirty - make sure crust is evenly pressed into plate.

- Bake crust for 8 - 10 minutes and then let cool.

- Change oven temperature to 425 degrees.

- In mixing bowl, mix sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger, nutmeg and cloves in small bowl.

- Beat eggs in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk.

- Pour into pre-baked, homemade pie shell - for the love of food, not the prebought kind!!

- Bake in preheated 425° F oven for 15 minutes.

- Reduce temperature to 350° F; bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours.

- Top with (lots o') whipped cream and ENJOY!

- Tip: This pie tastes best the day after. Let cool completely, cover with plastic wrap and foil, refrigerate, and eat the next day. The flavors are stronger (in a good way) and the crust is softer.

Looks tasty, doesn't it? So what do you think? Any other fabulous pumpkin recipes out there? If so, don't hold out on me! I only have a limited time to get my fill!