Heat your oven to 400ºF and grease a twelve muffin pan or line the pan with paper muffin liners. Place one stick of butter (thawed at room temperature) in a bowl and cream it with an electric mixer. Add 2/3 cup dark brown sugar (packed firmly) and 2/3 cup of molasses to the butter. Mix it all together until blended. It should start to look light and fluffy. You can add either one cup of canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling) or one cup of fresh pumpkin that has been cooked and blended well. Add the pumpkin and one large egg to the butter mixture and mix until blended.
In a separate bowl, combine 1¾ cups of all-purpose flour, 1½ teaspoon of cinnamon, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, 1 teaspoon of nutmeg, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Mix the dry ingredients together and then gently fold them in to the pumpkin mixture with a wooden spoon, not the electric mixer. You want to mix the ingredients together just enough to blend them well, but be careful not to over-blend the pumpkin mixture. Finally, you can add 1/4 cup of dried raisins, currants, or cranberries to the pumpkin mixture. You can even get a little crazy and mix a little bit of each to make them really tasty. Some chopped nuts would also be a nice addition to this pumpkin muffin recipe. Go ahead, get creative…it’s Halloween after all!
Fill the muffin cups about three quarters of the way full and bake your pumpkin muffins for about 15 minutes. If you’re unsure if they’re done, insert a toothpick into the center of one of the muffins and see if it comes out dry. Remove the pumpkin muffins from the oven and take them out of the muffin pan immediately. These pumpkin muffins are best served hot out of the oven, so call the kids and enjoy. Feel free to sprinkle some cinnamon-sugar or drizzle warm, melted butter over them for a sweet and buttery treat. Yum!
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