Pumpkin Muffins

I really like allrecipes.com. I get most of my recipes from that site because each recipe is like a blog post in that people leave comments about how they liked or didn't like or changed the recipe. I read the recipe and then the comments where people made changes and make my muffins accordingly. I usually use the base recipe (flour, oil, baking powder, etc.) as the recipe prescribes and change the other ingredients like nuts, raisins, and spices to my own taste. 

That's what I did with these pumpkin muffins and they are so good!

Pumpkin Muffins

Ingredients:

1/2 cup raisins

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup packed brown sugar (you can use 1/2 cup brown sugar instead of adding raw sugar)

1/4 sugar in the raw

dash of cinnamon

dash of ginger

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

2 eggs

a little more than a cup canned pumpkin puree (the recipe called for 3/4 cup but I wanted to be sure they'd be moist. Using whole grain flour usually makes for dry muffins)

1/4 cup canola oil

1/4 cup apple sauce

generous squirt honey

1/2 cup chopped walnuts and pecans

I know that looks like a lot of ingredients but I just throw in whatever I have on hand and seems to go together.

Directions:

Put raisins in a cup and cover them with hot water until they're plump (until you're done with the rest of the recipe). Stir all dry ingredients then add rest of the ingredients (including raisins) and mix until all contents are moist and well distributed. Bake at 350 for 18-22 minutes.

These are the first moist muffins I've made using whole wheat flour. They aren't too sweet. If you want dessert muffins, you can add more honey. I used half of what the original recipe called for. The batter turned out to be enough for 16 muffins so I saved what was left over after a dozen and baked a small batch this morning.

In other news, Brian has an interview this morning. He just left. And he looked so handsome that it was a shame we weren't going on a date. I couldn't help snapping a photo :)

We are having our friends Drew and Keano over for dinner Saturday. I think I'm going to make a chicken curry soup that I found in a Rachel Ray magazine. It looked interesting. The broth is apple cider and the ingredients include, but are not limited to, a half a head of cauliflower and a large sweet potato. I hope our guests will be as excited about eating it as I am making it. I bought a HUGE jug of apple cider from the super Target in preparation for this meal. (It was the only size I saw and it was on sale.) I think we'll have apple cider floats for dessert since I have a lot of cider on hand.

Too-da-loo!