Pumpkin Muffins

Pumpkins are really popular in Australia. In the markets, they cut them up into quarters or halves and sell them for around $1. I found varieties even more varieties of pumpkins in Tasmania at a Saturday market in Salamanca. This particular pumpkin, the Kent pumpkin, is also known as the Jap pumpkin. I, never having seen anything like this before in the States, thought it was a melon. When I arrived home, I realized I couldn’t eat it raw.

I Googled some recipes and found a way to make it into a “mashed pumpkin” dessert. I found that I really liked it and wondered what would happen if I incorporated it into a muffin. The outcome was phenomenal. The muffins came out a bit sticky (I love it when the tops of muffins develop that sticky surface and you can lick the excess sweetness off your fingertips) and held perfectly together with the pumpkin.

The following recipe yields 6 decent sized muffins. Besides the butter used to soften up the pumpkin, there’s no additional butter in the muffin batter. I used the same muffin recipe from my Simple No Butter Apple Muffin recipe. You can add more or less pumpkin as you like, but just remember more pumpkin = more fiber and beta carotene!

Ingredients:

Pumpkin Filling

• 1/4th of a Kent Pumpkin
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons water

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup self-raising flour
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup cooking oil (vegetable, canola, etc)
• 2 cored, peeled, and chopped apples

Recipe:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Cut the pumpkin into cubes of 1 inch thick.
3. Add the pumpkin into a bowl along with all the sugar, water and butter. Microwave for about 3 minutes or until the pumpkin breaks down and you get a mushy consistency.
4. In a separate bowl, combine all the dry ingredients- both flours, sugars, salt, and baking powder
5. Add the wet ingredients- egg, water and cooking oil.
6. Fold in the pumpkin and mix lightly with a spatula.
7. Fill the muffin tins about 3/4 of the way and pop them into the oven from 15-20 minutes.

I guarantee that if you give these muffins to your kids, they won’t be able to tell that they’re getting their daily fix of vegetables!