Gobble, Gobble!

Happy Turkey Day, dear readers!!  I hope you get to spend your day enjoying the company of family and friends.  Watching football (if that's what you do) and stuffing yourself so much that you have to unbutton the top button of your pants!!  Thanksgiving dinner preparations began last night with the baking of a pumpkin cheesecake and a cherry pie and the mixing of a sour cream fruit salad.  Not to mention the cleaning of the kitchen and the dining room area.  *whew*  I was pretty tired by the time I made it in to bed last night.  This morning has been pretty busy as well.  I made breakfast for all the boys (waffles and bacon) and the chili corn casserole is in the oven as I type this.  So, while I have a break in the action (Mason's "napping", Nate's watching Dungeons & Dragons a la 1984, and the hubs is in the shower), I thought I'd share one of the new recipes I tried last week.

One of the docs I work with gave me two BIG containers of fresh frozen pumpkin puree.  He barely got the question out before I said I'd take them!  I've made quite a few recipes from the first container, and this was the last one.  I got this recipe from one of my favorite cooking blogs: Baking and Mistaking.  She makes/shares great recipes and she shares some "mistakes", too, which always makes me feel good knowing that I'm not the only one who has a fail in the kitchen every now and then. 


Pumpkin Muffins
2 cups pumpkin puree
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup apple butter or applesauce
4 large eggs
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice*
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
6 oz package dried cranberries*

Topping:
1 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp sugar

Whisk together the pumpkin, oil, apple butter or applesauce, eggs, pumpkin pie spice, 2 cups sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl until smooth.

Whisk in the flour and baking powder until just combined - don't over mix.

Stir together the cinnamon and remaining tablespoon of sugar in another bowl.

Divide batter among 24 paper-lined muffin cups (each should be about three-fourths full), the sprinkle the tops with the cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Bake at 350* F about 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown.  Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

*NOTES:  The recipe listed on Baking and Mistaking didn't have a quantity for the pumpkin pie spice, so I guesstimated and put in 1 tsp.  I have an email out to Amy and when I get the specific amount, I'll change it.  The recipe did not call for dried cranberries, but I thought it sounded good, so I added them.  I loved the way it turned out.

The recipe said apple butter or apple sauce - I used applesauce because it's cheaper and the boys will eat it.  There are two things different/missing from this picture.  I used fresh pumpkin puree - the cans photograph better - and the dried cranberries (or crannies, as they're known in my family).

YUM!  These were so good straight out of the oven.  See the cool muffin liners?  The hubs let me use "his" muffin liners that he'd picked up for Halloween.

The hubs took these to his office (the peeps at my office are probably getting burned out on pumpkin goodies) and they loved them.  All the muffins were eaten by the end of the day, and that's the way I like it.  The thing about these muffins is that they're not as sweet as your typical muffin and I think that's because of the whole wheat flour.  Just be warned that if you cook with wheat flour, the muffins (or whatever you're baking) won't rise quite as much as if you were to use regular all-purpose flour.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway!  You have until November 27th (that's just two days from now), so don't delay.  You can link to my giveaway HERE.

AND...I've been featured as Blog of the Day on Not Worth Mentioning!  I love Jesse's blog - it's full of oddball, off-the-wall posts that always make me smile (and usually LOL at the craziness that is Jesse's mind).

I'm off to the bird in the oven, but before I go, I wanted to take a second to reflect on things I am thankful for.  I am thankful for many things this Thanksgiving.  I'm thankful for my family (near and far) and friends (also near and far).  I'm thankful we're all healthy and have a roof over our heads.  I'm thankful for all the creature comforts we enjoy.  And I'm also thankful for my readers!!!  Thank you everybody!!