Hi friends! Guess what time of year it is?! It is, undeniably, the most wonderful time of the year. Autumn – my dear friends – is FINALLY here!
Now I suppose autumn has been around for a few weeks, but here in the Bay Area, it’s been unseasonably hot. Truthfully, I started to experience a heavy sense of anxiety that summer was just going to stick around for, ummm, forever? But then, without fail, the entrance of my once modest grocery store suddenly found itself overrun with pumpkins. Inside, the aisles were dotted with everything pumpkin spice and maple; the warm scent of cinnamon and cloves danced amongst the produce bins. And just this past week, the mercury decided to follow suit and take a nice dip, offering comfortable days and cool nights (can I get a hallelujah?). Needless to say, I’m on cloud 9 and possibly headed straight to autumn nirvana.
Yes, I’m one of those weirdos who rejoices at the sight of Halloween decorations in July. And when all the coffee shops begin to announce the return of their pumpkin spice caffeinated beverages? Well, I’m utterly chuffed to bits and on a mission to acquire (and devour) ALL the pumpkin spice goodies this season has to offer.
I know that there’s a lot of pumpkin spice inspired recipes floating around and it can be overwhelming in deciding where to begin. But I’ll make it easy for you – start with this recipe because it might just be the last one you’ll end up using. These gorgeous, craggy muffins are moist, sweet, and bursting with all of autumn’s favourite spices. They’re stupidly easy to throw together and leave the most wonderful scent as they bake. Oh, and they taste pretty darn delicious hot out of the oven, sliced, and slathered with some softened butter. I mean, if I had to describe how autumn tasted, these muffins would be it. So go ahead dear friends, and give these muffins a try. You might just find yourself heading over to an autumn themed nirvana too.
- 2 T all purpose flour
- 1 T + 3/4 tsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice (see note below)
- pinch of salt
- 1 T butter, melted
- 3/4 c. all purpose flour
- 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
- 1 c. sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 c. toasted, chopped walnuts (optional)
- 1/2 c. pumpkin puree
- 1/4 c. vegetable oil
- 2 T whole milk
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a 6 cup muffin tin with liners and set aside.
- Combine all the dry ingredients together in a small bowl.
- Pour melted butter and mix until mixture resembles wet sand; set aside.
- Whisk together dry ingredients (flours, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, salt) in a small bowl. Stir in toasted walnuts, if using.
- Whisk the remaining wet ingredients (pumpkin puree, oil, milk, egg, and vanilla extract) together in a medium bowl.
- Fold dry mixture into the wet mixture. Stir until just combined.
- Spoon muffin batter into prepared muffin tins. If making streusel topping, sprinkle reserved topping over each muffin.
- Bake muffins until tops are golden brown, and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean; approximately 30 to 35 minutes.
- Enjoy!
- If you don't have pumpkin pie spice on hand, you can make your own by combining the following in a pinch.
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp allspice
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
