RECIPE: Buttermilk Pumpkin Spice Muffins
Who says Summer Sweets Week can’t be moderately healthy? The great thing about these muffins is that I made two batches at once: one using white flour and sugar, the other with the whole wheat flour and brown sugar listed below. I gave my family a blind taste test, and everyone liked the whole grain version better. Score!!
These are probably the best pumpkin muffins I’ve tried, and they freeze really well, so it’s easy to make up a couple of batches at once and thaw as needed. While I’ve cooked my own pumpkin before, and generally avoid canned foods, this is one time I’d actually recommend the canned over fresh. My experience has been that store-bought pumpkin is creamier than home-cooked, and works better for baking. But if you don’t mind the added “texture” (or are better at cooking pumpkin than me 
), feel free to substitute! Cheers!
Ingredients:
1 cup cooked pumpkin
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1 2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp allspice
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chopped nuts, if desired*
* The nutrition estimate above does NOT include nuts. If you mix in 1 cup chopped walnuts, it adds 60 calories and 6 grams of fat PER MUFFIN.
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400°. In a large mixing bowl combine pumpkin, sugar, oil, buttermilk, and eggs. Beat together for one minute. In another bowl, combine flour, spices, soda and salt. Add to pumpkin mixture and stir until thoroughly moistened. Don’t over stir! Fold in nuts. Line 18 muffin cups with paper liners. Pour batter into cups, filling no more than 2/3 full. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Serve while still warm.
Serving Notes:
If desired, you can pour the whole mix into a 9×13″ pan instead of the muffin tin, or into loaf pans for pumpkin bread. You may need to add a few minutes to the baking time for the loaves, and if your baking pan is very shallow and wide, you might want to reduce the oven temp to 350°. Each muffin is about 56 g, so if you choose one of these options, weigh your slices to adjust the nutritional estimate accordingly.
