Pumpkin Muffins

Afternoon tea time special: Pumpkin muffins
With Halloween coming soon, I decided to soak in the festive mood by cooking with pumpkin, starting with these adorable pumpkin muffins. Because I don’t really have a sweet tooth, I always like the idea of having a savoury ingredient like pumpkin in something sweet like a muffin. If you want to prepare this in advance before Halloween, you can freeze the muffins in the freezer and toast them for about 5 minutes in the oven to warm them up before serving. This is always a huge time saver for me when I want a quick and fuss free breakfast.
I’m pretty inexperienced at baking. For those who are experienced, could you tell me honestly if my muffins look ok? Are nicely baked muffins supposed to look like that? Also, they rise nicely when they are in the smaller cupcake cases as shown in the photos, but if I use the taller and bigger muffin cases, the batter do not cook well, and they will sink in the middle and then collapse. Does anyone know the reason for this? Your expertise is much appreciated.
On to the recipe now, if you still dare to follow a recipe shared by a noob hehe :)
Pumpkin muffins (with pumpkin smoothie in the background)
Ingredients
(Makes about 16 small muffins)Adapted from 500 Cupcakes & Muffins by Fergal Connolly
– 200g plain flour
– 1 tsp cinnamon
– 1 tsp baking powder
– 250g caster sugar
– 110ml vegetable oil
– 2 lightly beaten eggs
– 110ml milk
– 150g pumpkin flesh, blended to a pureeDirections
1. Flour mixture: In a bowl, sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon and sugar together, and mix well.
2. Pumpkin mixture: In a large bowl, beat the oil, eggs and milk. Stir in the pumpkin puree.
3. Combine the flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture. Stir until just blended (and lumpy). Be careful not to over mix as it will result in a tough texture.
4. Place baking cases in muffin tins. Spoon the mixture into the cases (each slightly more than 2/3 filled).
4. Bake for about 20 minutes in preheated oven of 175C (350F). Remove the muffins and cool on a rack for several minutes before serving.
Just for Fun:
I baked a mini one for my hamster Mario.
And he seemed pretty happy about it :D
They looks good to me! I have to send a link to this to my girlfriend, she loves hamsters.
hi 5 to your girlfriend! hehe
Your little hammy is just so adorable…!:) I also have two at home, only the bigger version – I have two bunnies :). Your food styling is cute as usual!
Oh I love bunnies too, all animals fluffy actually. Thanks!
O your muffins look good!!!
I recently tasted store-bought pumpkin muffins & they were good!
They taste a little spicy (as in it’s got spices such as nutmeg, cloves, & probably ginger), which I like. Maybe you can try that next time, since you don’t have sweet tooth the spiciness might balance out the sweetness.
Yes I think I will like the spices too. That’s a great idea and something I’m writing in my future to-try list. Thanks! :)
I think your muffins look great! Don’t worry too much about it! Yeah and pumpkin is known to go very well with the mix of some fall spices. :)
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You celebrate Halloween in SGP? ;p
hmm depends on whether eating pumpkin is counted as celebrating Halloween hehe
Pretty muffin.. pretty picture. :)
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Er..need to steam the pumpkin flesh before blending?
Hi Rin, I did not steam the pumpkin.
Just stumbled on your website and love it. I am hopeless at baking and hope to surprise my friends by making these pumpkin muffins. Just wondering how much water to add to blend the 150g of pumpkin flesh? (sorry, quite embarrassed to ask). Thanks!
Sorry for my late reply. I don’t think I added water to the pumpkin when blending.