Pumpkin muffins

This recipe makes 12 regular sized muffins or 6 jumbo muffins.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION TO READ BEFORE BAKING:

To make your own bakery style muffin liners cut a piece of parchment into a small squares. Next cut a slit into two sides of your square, this will allow you to easily pop it right into the muffin tin. Continue this process until you have made enough liners to fill your entire muffin tray.

Place eggs in warm water to bring to room temperature more quickly.

When leavening agents and salt touch a chemical reaction begins, for tall muffins and to avoid having these substances react prematurely do not let your baking soda, baking powder, or salt touch when measuring out your dry ingredients. Whisk together at the absolute last second.

If using liquid vanilla extract or paste add to wet ingredients, if using dry vanilla bean powder add 1/4 tsp to dry ingredients, or use both!

Use a pumpkin or squash puree of choice to make this recipe, you can use store bought or homemade.

To make homemade pumpkin/squash puree, boil pumpkin/squash until soft (about 6-10 minutes). Strain and blend with an intuitive amount of warm spices (cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, clove, black pepper, ginger, turmeric, salt). I like to use an immersion blender but a food processor or regular blender would work as well.

Follow the recipe precisely, for example, if molasses is omitted the muffins will not come out correct.

Exact measurements for spices are important in this recipe.

Use a mortar and pestle, food processor, or blender to crush anise and fennel seeds, this will make the spices much more aromatic.

Mise en place all spices ahead of time in a small bowl. This will ensure that you don't forget to add a spice.

It is important to mix any add ins with flour, skipping this step will cause any add ins to sink to the bottom and there will not be proper distribution throughout your muffin.

If using frozen fruit be aware it has more moisture and may affect the texture of the batter.

For gluten free muffins use a gluten free flour and double the leavening agents and salt (4 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 2 tsp salt)

ALWAYS add dry ingredients to wet, never wet to dry.

Using a thick yogurt like greek or skyr will affect the consistency of the batter, I recommend using a thinner yogurt.

Finishing the muffins with a sprinkle of turbinado sugar before baking will create the dunkin donut esq crunchy muffin topping.

Everyones oven is different, I recommend checking the temperature of your oven monthly with a heat safe thermometer to ensure it is properly calibrated.

Make sure your oven actually hits 425 before baking the muffins. A lot of the time it will say it is fully pre heated but the actual temperature will be lower than what you set it to.

Bake the muffins on the top rack since it is usually the hottest area of the oven. You will notice a difference in the rise of your muffins if you don’t bake them on the top rack.

Baking times will vary depending on your specific oven.

Muffins continue to bake while they cool once taken out of the oven, keep this in mind to avoid a dry over baked muffin.

The best way to store your finished muffins is to individually wrap them in aluminum foil and freeze them as soon as possible to preserve freshness. You can then defrost/reheat at your leisure. I like to cut mine in half and griddle them on a cast iron pan.

Ideas of what to put in your muffins fall:

chocolate chips

nuts/seeds

oats

cranberries

dried fruit

Measurement for add ins is 1/2 cup - 1 cup but use your intuition and do what seems right for you.

INGREDIENTS:

DRY:

350g flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3 tsp espresso powder

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp cardamom

1/2 tsp clove

1 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp crushed fennel seeds

1 tsp crushed anise seeds

1 tsp turmeric

1/8 tsp black pepper

WET:

1/2 tsp freshly grated ginger

100g brown sugar

110g granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

445g squash or pumpkin puree

65g thin yogurt (not greek or skyr)

1/2 cup olive oil

2 tbsp Molasses

2 large eggs room temperature

MAKING THE MUFFINS:

• Preheat oven to 425 Farenheit

• Spray and line a muffin sheet

• In one bowl measure out dry ingredients

• Measure out wet ingredients in separate bowl

• Whisk dry ingredients until combined

• Whisk wet ingredients until combined

• Gently FOLD and incorporate dry ingredients into wet with a SPATULA (important) until JUST MIXED there will still be dry flour present

• If putting any add ins like chocolate chips or nuts do so now

• Using a cookie scoop add one scoop of batter to each muffin slot in the tin, then add another scoop, top each muffin with a third small dollop of batter (this will create a nice muffin top)

• Sprinkle with turbinado sugar and cinnamon (1-2 tsp)

• Bake 425 for 10 minutes

• Turn heat down to 375 and bake for another 12-15 minutes. (Check at 13 minutes) They are done when golden, you can smell them, and if a toothpick comes out clean

• Total baking time should be around 25-30 minutes depending on your oven