Pumpkin Muffins

Let me just start out by saying that ANY recipe that has 5 stars from 4,609 people will ALWAYS get vote. That's what this pumpkin muffin recipe got, and it is well-deserved. This muffin, which is actually meant to be a loaf, is moist, flavorful, and delicious. Even if you adapt it to your liking, it STILL turns out a winner. So go make this recipe...now.

We start out with the ingredients.


Mix the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients separately.




Pour the dry ingredients into the bowl with the wet ingredients, and mix until just incorporated. Don't over-mix, but keep going until you don't see any huge clumps of flour. Fill the cups about 2/3 and add any toppings at this point.



I doubled the recipe because I made this the other night, and my dad ate 3...in one sitting. 3. However, doubling a recipe that is already meant for a HUGE batch can lead to some shortages. I only had a cup and a half left of vegetable oil, but the recipe calls for 2 cups, so I substituted apple sauce for the remaining half cup.



Also, to make this muffin a little healthier, I made it with whole white wheat flour instead of the usual all-purpose flour. I love whole white wheat flour because it's much lighter and milder than its friend, the dense whole wheat flour. Use it in your baking! It's very similar to all-purpose...but healthier!

I hope you enjoy this recipe. It's called the Downeast Main Pumpkin Bread, and it's a-mazing! Did I mention that it got 5 stars with over 4,000 reviews?? :)



The directions below are for a loaf, but these can easily be made into muffins. Lower the baking time to 25 minutes.

Ingredients

• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2/3 cup water
• 3 cups white sugar
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 7x3 inch loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans.
3. Bake for about 50 minutes in the preheated oven. If making muffins, lower time to 25 minutes. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Monkey Muffins

 

If you are like any other Asian person I know, then you probably have know idea what Monkey Bread is. I guess this dessert was just not a part of the typical American desserts Asian kids were given. Growing up, the only desserts I really got were Cookies and Cream ice cream, Nestle cookies (cut and bake 'til burned), Crunch ice cream bars, and the occasional Marie Callendars apple pie from the frozen aisle of the market.

Monkey Bread is a type of cinnamon bread that you can pull apart easily because they're little balls of cinnamon/sugar dough pressed together to make one massive cake. It's delicious. I saw these Monkey muffins on Pioneer Woman's blog and wanted to make them whenever I remembered to buy biscuit dough from the market. 

I adapted from PW's recipe because I wanted to make it my own...sorta. If you want the original recipe, go here to Pioneer Woman's website. 

First off, roll the biscuits into small balls. They should be about the size of a small meatball or walnut. 2 biscuit cans made 24 servings for me. 

In a separate bowl, combine the white sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon.











Next, you want to put a pat of butter into each muffin cup.

Add about half a teaspoon of the sugar mixture over the butter and add 3 balls to each cup. I don't have a picture, but you need to put another pat of butter and some sugar mixture over the 3 balls.

 When the balls have risen and are golden brown, take them out of the oven and drizzle them with the icing.

Voila!

Ingredients

• 2 cans of Refrigerated Biscuit Dough
• 1 stick of butter
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 Tbl Ground Cinnamon
• 2 cups powdered sugar, 2 tbl milk, 1 tsp vanilla for the icing

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Add pats of butter to the bottom of each cup. You should use 1/2 the stick for the bottom, and 1/2 for the top. Sprinkle in sugar mixture.

Roll dough into walnut sized balls (or cut refrigerated biscuit dough into thirds). Place three into each muffin tin.

Top with the rest of the butter. Sprinkle on more sugar mixture.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden and bubbly. 

Combine the ingredients for the icing until smooth. Pour icing on top of each muffin.