Pumpkin Spice Muffins

A feature of autumn is having lots of weird coloured and wonderful shaped pumpkins and squashes on our vegetable stalls. This recipe uses one of these to bring sweetness and moist texture to a set of freshly baked muffins. I recently made these on Halloween (as my photo shows!), but they are just as enjoyable for an autumn-themed breakfast, dessert or a snack with tea or coffee.

Servings

This will make 12 muffins.

Timings

10 mins to chop the squash, and 30 mins to roast it. The rest of the prep can be done while the squash is roasting, and the muffins will then take 25 mins to bake at 180C.

You Will Need

• Pumpkin, butternut or other squash, peeled with seeds and pith removed, and cut into chunks. You will need 250g of chunks.
• 255g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• half tsp salt
• 2tsp mixed spice
• 140g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 150ml milk
• 2 tablesp runny honey
• 90 ml vegetable oil
• 50 g dried fruit
• 50g chopped mixed nuts
• a few handfuls of pumpkin and sunflower seeds to garnish

Method

1. Spread the chunks of squash out on a baking tray, drizzle with oil, and roast in an oven at 180C for 30 mins.
2. While the squash is roasting, prepare a muffin tin or mould.
3. In a bowl, sift together flour, bicarb, salt, spices and sugar. Add the nuts and dried fruit and stir well.
4. In a separate bowl, mix the egg, milk, oil and honey.
5. When the squash has finished roasting, remove from the oven. The chunks should be charred and caramelised at the edges. Lift them on to a plate and set aside to cool for 10 mins.
6. Whirl the squash chunks in a food processor with blade fitted, till you have a puree. This process should also help the squash to cool further.
7. Scrape the squash puree into the egg mixture and stir. Then add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and stir well to combine.
8. Spoon the combined mixture into the muffin tin or mould. Sprinkle a few pumpkin and sunflower seeds on top of each muffin. Bake in the oven, still at 180C, for 25 mins until golden.

Customise it!

Cut down on time to bake the muffins by roasting the squash earlier, perhaps when you already have the oven on cooking something else. Puree it and set aside to cool, then use as stated. Feel free to substitute other types of nuts and seeds as you prefer.

Musical choice for this post comes from Inspiral Carpets. I have just obtained tickets to see the band on tour in London next spring. I’m excited about this – I have grown to really like their music in the last few years but haven’t seen them before. I especially like the 60s sounding farfisa organ played by Clint Boon. They have lots of great tracks but this one seems particularly appropriate to the season – She Comes in the Fall.