Back in St. Louis, I would wake up really early and go across the street to St. Louis Bread Company (aka Panera everywhere else but St. Louis) and study for a few hours before class. Every day I ordered the same thing, a pumpkin muffie and half hazelnut half regular coffee. Some days I would be surprised to find 2 muffies in my bag because I had made friends with the 5am shift cashier, and she thought it looked like a 2-muffie kind day. I loved her. I know we have a panera here, and I could drive all the way across town to get my muffin, but it's almost not even the same here without my engineering problem-set and friends behind the counter.
And now since the nip's in the air, and the pumpkins and squash are out, and fresh market has stuffed the lobby so full of cinnamon sticks I can smell it from the parking lot, I'm craving those pumpkin muffies even more. The moist center and crunchy top with a powdered sugar sprinkled on top? yes please!
I'm on a mission to replicate the moistness and flavor of the panera muffie, so I'm trying out a new recipe. I figure what better excuse to make a bunch of muffins than having three of my best friends visiting us for the weekend? Plus I have my new pumpkin pie spice to use up!
Pumpkin Muffins
(Adapted from Gourmet Magazine November 2006)
INGREDIENTS:
1.5 cups all-purpose flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
1 can canned solid-pack pumpkin (reduce to one cup if that's too much pumpkin moistness for you)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 tsp pumpkin-pie spice (a combo of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, and allspice)
1 1/4 cups
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
topping: 1 tsp cinnamon + 1 Tbsp sugar mixture or sprinkle powder sugar
DIRECTIONS:
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350F. Spray muffin pan or line with cupcake liners.
Whisk together flour and baking powder in a small bowl.
Whisk together pumpkin, oil, eggs, pumpkin-pie spice, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl until smooth, then whisk in flour mixture until just combined.
Divide batter among muffin cups (each should be about 3/4 full), then sprinkle tops with cinnamon-sugar mixture. Bake until puffed and golden brown and a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.
Cool in pan on a rack 5 minutes, then transfer muffins from pan to rack and cool to warm or room temperature.
Brew up your favorite cup of coffee and enjoy with great convos and great friends during a relaxing Sunday morning at home. those muffins didn't last very long.
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