Pumpkin Oat Muffins

I have more baked goods in the freezer than I should, but I also had one baggie of pumpkin purée left from last year.  I googled pumpkin oat muffin recipes, and decided this was the one I liked best.

To make this, I did have to buy a new bag of whole wheat flour.  I have been contemplating making my own sliced wheat bread, since the price of a loaf has gone up so much even for the store brand.  Guess now I will, at least until this bag is done.  I'm going to bake it, pre-slice, and then freeze the loaves, like I do with my challah.  Grocery bread is so loaded with preservatives that it lasts a month in the fridge, but home-baked will only survive a few days unless frozen.

There was enough pumpkin in the bag for a half recipe, which ended up being seven muffins the way I portioned it.  Now that I know how the batter behaves, I won't be afraid to fill the muffin cups a little more next time.

I did get concerned about the author's notes about the muffins sticking a little and greased the heck out of the pan with shortening instead of using pan spray.  It worked, so I'm glad I did.

The original post has tons of substitutions for various diets.  The only modification I made, other than cutting it in half, was using powdered milk.  Home-roasted pumpkin purée has a higher moisture content than what's in the can.  I had almost 3/4 C of it, but I was counting at least 25% as water and added the milk powder to balance.  I was happy with the consistency of the batter, so that seems to be a good call.

1/3 C neutral oil like grapeseed or coconut
*1/2 C maple syrup
2 eggs, room temperature
*1 C pumpkin purée
1/4 C milk
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1-3/4 C whole wheat flour
1/3 C rolled oats, plus more for tops

1.  Preheat oven to 325º and grease a muffin pan with pan spray or shortening (unless using silicone).

2.  In a bowl, combine oil, syrup, eggs, pumpkin, milk, spice, baking soda, vanilla, and salt until uniform.

3.  Stir in flour until about half mixed, then add oats.  Batter will be very thick.  Get all the major clumps of flour stirred in, but try not to over mix it.

4.  Portion evenly into muffin pan.  I used the 3 Tb cookie scoop and got seven out of the half batch, so about a generous 1/4 C per muffin.

5.  Sprinkle tops with more oats, and perhaps some sanding sugar if you want them sweet.  Without, they come out just a touch sweet, enough to taste the spices.  Bake for 22-25 minutes, until lightly browned and pass the toothpick test.

6.  Allow to rest in pan 5 minutes, then run a butter knife around the edges before turning out onto a rack to cool.  These can be stored in the fridge 5 days or in the freezer for up to a month.

Makes 12

Difficulty rating  π