Pumpkin Muffins for my Pumpkin

Remember when you were in college and you woke up the next day feeling like the world was kind of moving in slow motion, and all you wanted was coffee, some more sleep, and for everyone to just stop yelling?  Yeah, that was our house last week.  We were all moving around one another like a bunch of hungover college kids, 24/7.  Just when we thought the sickness induced hangover was finally done, our kid woke up with almost 103-degree fever on Thursday morning, giving me the biggest heart attack I've had since bringing Laela home from the hospital when she was born.

After a few sleepless nights of calming our sick baby and making sure she was breathing when she was sleeping (in case you didn't know, paranoia sets in after you don't get a certain amount of sleep- and when your baby feels hotter than your hot blooded spouse), I decided I needed some therapy..er, I mean I wanted to bake.

Laela LOVES pumpkin anything- ravioli, smoothies, cream sauce, bread, muffins, breakfast bars, pie, custard- if it's pumpkin, she'll eat/drink it.  After purusing our pantry, I discovered that I had all the ingredients for this awesome pumpkin muffin recipe by Bethenny Frankel.

Kyle kind of grimaced when he saw that the ingredients were healthy, but then he and Laela proceeded to devour them everyday for breakfast until there weren't any left!

I made a few modifications (I made some without cranberries or nuts because Kyle won't eat either in baked goods.  I also made some with chopped pecans because they're what I had on hand.)

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Ingredients:
•3 cups oat flour

•2 cups raw sugar

•2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

•¼ cup vegetable oil

•1 egg

•1 ½ cups canned pumpkin (puree not pie filling)

•½ cup water

•1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

•1 teaspoon baking soda

•1 teaspoon salt

•1 teaspoon cinnamon

•½ teaspoon nutmeg

•½ teaspoon cloves

•1 teaspoon vanilla

•1 ½ cups dried cranberries

•¼ cup unsalted walnuts

•24 muffin cups

Instructions:
 
1.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine raw sugar, vanilla, melted butter, oil, eggs, pumpkin and water. Beat for 90 seconds, or until well mixed.

2.  Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices, stirring until no streaks remain.

3.  Combine flour mixture and pumpkin mixture. Stir in nuts and cranberries; stirring only until all ingredients are mixed.

4.  Cover batter and allow to set at room temperature for 60 minutes.

5.  Preheat oven to 350°F.

6.  Place muffin cups in muffin holders and fill 2/3 of the way full.

7.  Bake for 40-45 minutes or until muffins tops spring back when lightly touched.

8.  If the muffins will be frozen, allow to cool for 1 hour, then tightly wrap in plastic wrap; store in freezer zipper bags.

9.  To reheat, wrap loosely in foil and bake for 5-10 minutes at 350°F. Or they may be reheated in the microwave wrapped loosely in a damp paper towel.

On Bethenny's website she said that this yielded 12 muffins, but I found that it made 24 normal sized muffins.

Laela really enjoyed hers with a side of vanilla yogurt to dip it in!