A little holiday treat ~ Pumpkin Muffins

I have tried many pumpkin muffin recipes since pumpkin is one of my favorite fall flavors, but this is the one I keep coming back to. They are now an autumn/holiday treat that I make every year. (Sometimes I even make them in the spring or summer since they are so good, and canned pumpkin is available year round!) I follow the original recipe pretty closely, except I use 100% whole-wheat pastry flour instead of any white flour. I think the spices and the pumpkin combine well with the nuttier flavors in the whole grain flour. I hope you’ll give these a try! They are definitely a favorite at our house :).

Pumpkin Muffins

Adapted from Ellie Krieger’s book The Food You Crave: Luscious Recipes for a Healthy Life

Cooking spray

2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

Pinch of salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

3 tablespoons unsulphered molasses

1/4 cup canola oil

2 large eggs

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup lowfat buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg.

In a large bowl, whisk the sugar, molasses, oil and 1 egg until combined. Add the other egg and whisk well. Whisk in the pumpkin and vanilla. Whisk in the flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the buttermilk. Whisk just until combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared muffin pan. Tap the pan on the counter a few times to remove any air bubbles. Bake for 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center of 1 of the muffins comes out clean.

Let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the muffins to loosen them and unmold. Cool completely on the rack.

PS. If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, reduced fat sour cream can be a good substitute.