The season of squash is upon us.
I bought two real beauties at Fishkill Farms awhile back when we went apple picking. Any subway-taker will tell you how hard it is to control oneself at the prospect of taking home your heaviest and most awkwardly shaped shopping needs via car. I bought the biggest pumpkin I could find (and afford). Then I picked out a slightly-smaller friend, just because I didn’t have to carry them home on the train.
I’m always surprised by the amount of puree that comes from a pumpkin. In the middle of the puree process, I realized I was starving and needed breakfast. Hence pumpkin muffins.
Pumpkin muffins, gluten-free
yields 12 regular-sized muffins
1. Preheat oven to 400F. Grease a 12-muffin tin with a nondescript oil, like vegetable or safflower oil.
2. In a large mixing bowl combine:
1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup millet flour
1/2 cup arrowroot (or tapioca) starch
1 tsp xanthan gum [Note: If you’re not gluten-free, you can sub 2 cups all-purpose, unbleached flour for this and all ingredients listed above]
2 Tbs flaxmeal
1 Tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
pinch (less than 1/4 tsp) ground cloves
3. In a separate, medium-sized mixing bowl whisk together the following wet ingredients:
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
5 Tbs unsalted butter, melted
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
4. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour wet ingredients into it. Incorporate the flour into the wet ingredients so that there’s no more dry flour patches. Don’t over-mix here though; the batter shouldn’t be smooth.
5. Bake for 10 minutes and then rotate the pan and bake for another 5-7 minutes. They’re done when a toothpick slides out without any gooey gunk. Let sit in tin for 5 minutes, then transfer muffins to a cooling rack. Eat as many as you can warm, just out of the oven! 