Whole wheat pumpkin raisin muffin goodness!

Sooooo- its finally fall in Las Vegas. The winds are picking up and its just a bit colder than I really appreciate before the sun rises high in the sky. But having been on the cusp of sweater weather for the last month I think its safe to say that with the first week of november already on the books: sweater weather is here to stay!

A couple of weeks ago I threw a 's*tue*wsday' party for some friends of mine. It was a kind of welcome fall party that took place on a tuesday in which we ate a bunch of stew, drank mulled cider and wine, did fall related activities like make caramel apples and carve pumpkins. I should mention we did all this while ignoring that it was 85 degrees outside. Well, lets just say we were too busy eating, drinking and dipping apples in caramel and only one of 5 pumpkins got carved. This left 4 pumpkins sitting on my dining table begging not to be left to waste. Cue yesterday when (being bolstered by my recent foray into spaghetti squash) I cut two of them in half, scooped out the seeds and baked them for just over an hour.  After letting them cool I scooped the scoopings-ta hee hee- into a rubbermaid container, put it in the fridge and got excited about making pumpkin soup, pumpkin shakes, pumpkin butter, pumpkin ravioli, pumpkin gravy and PUMPKIN MUFFINS!

This recipe for pumpkin muffins is adapted from one of my favorite food blogs around smitten kitchen. I replaced the white flour for whole wheat, and replaced one of the eggs with a smashed banana. I always try to use whole wheat flour instead of white. Maybe this just makes me feel better about eating things like muffins and cornbread; I read a bunch of places that people who choose to eat whole wheat over enriched white flour products have healthier BMI's than people who don't.... though I have had to buy slightly larger pants, I just turned 30 and they are only slightly larger- I'd like to think that my whole wheat decisions are at least partly responsible for that. Even if I only choose them part of the time....anyway thats my story and i'm sticking to it.

King Arthur makes a delicious unbleached white whole wheat flour that I have never had any problems with. It doesn't give any kind of grainy texture, nor does it make things dry. Needless to say me likey & me reccomend-ey.

Things you will need to make these bomb ass muffins:


1 1/2 cups unbleached white whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup pumpkin puree (use the canned stuff for a time saver)
1/3 cup vegetable oil*
1 large egg
1/2 large banana mashed**1 teaspoon pumpkin-pie spice
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins

*I meant to sub applesauce for this- will do next time and amend the notes appropriately

**banana is a common egg substitute- you can make this recipe vegan by replacing all the eggs with one whole mashed banana! I learned this while reading the recipe for these delicious looking vegan banana waffles. When I finally get a new waffle maker I am TOTALLY making these :)

The very first thing you should do when you begin baking ANYTHING is to turn on the dang oven! And make sure you set that mess to the correct temperature too. I can not tell you how many times I have gone to put something in the oven and realize that I didn't preheat it. I should mention I am not a complete idiot and that my electric ovens 'start' button is right next to the 'oven off' button- boo oven designer.... BOOOOOoooooo. 
 Also, you should always prep your pans before you get to mixing so you can put your batter straight into them. In this case- put 12 muffin cups into your muffin tin and get ready for some straight up pumpkin goodness!








Step one:


Combine the flour, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, and cinnamon in a bowl with a whisk... or a fork. Either will work, just make sure you mix them together fairly well try to catch any big lumps while this mix is still dry. This will prevent over mixing when you combine with the wet ingredients. 




Step two:
Mash the banana in a second bowl, add pumpkin puree, vegetable oil, egg, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Mix your wet ingredients well. At this point, because my pumpkin was  not from a can and a bit lumpy I used a wand mixer - I don't think you'll need to do this if you use canned pumpkin. Once this mixture is good and uniform 

Step three:
add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until just incorporated. One of the secrets of good baking is to avoid over mixing ( I learned this from martha's baking bible) -If have found that if you make sure you mix the wet/dry ingredients well separately they should incorporate fairly easily without too many of those visible bumpy lumps.

Step four, five, and six:
Fold in your raisins, scoop batter into the muffin cups (i use an ice cream scooper with the push button action on the handle-perfect way to keep muffin size consistent and avoid overflow), put those bitches in the oven for about 25- 30 minutes. 


My oven is convection and my muffs were done much earlier. Always check on your goods as baking times can vary depending on your 
equipment. 

And there you have them. Beautiful, moist, pumpkin deliciousness. The raisins give them a bit of complex sweetness that I love. I get a bit disappointed when I get more than two bites in a row with no raisins! I think walnuts would be a great addition if your a nutty kind of gal (or guy) you should definitely add a 1/2 cup or so. I like mine with smart balance and apple butter! Let me know if you have any other fun ideas!

Enoy!