Pumpkin Pie Muffins.
As much as I love having a Spring birthday, I can’t help but become nostalgic for the East Coast of America when September rolls around. There’s just something so special about deciduous trees, roads lined with stone walls and the first puffs of smoke rising from chimneys. In the crisp air, anything seems possible, and the happenings of yesteryear suddenly seem recent. One almost expects to see John Adams riding his horse down the middle of the road, wrapped in a muffler, muttering “Aliquando enim et vivere fortiter facere est” as he reads from his volume of Seneca.
Here is my homage to American Fall (when leaves actually do fall) with a wish and a prayer that I might return to that part of the world someday. If you believe in such things, you could pray too. Two sided prayers work ever so much better than the one-sided variety.
Muffin ingredients
Wet
One cup of mashed pumpkin
One tablespoon of instant coffee (please see tips).
One cup of maple syrup.
Half a cup of oil.
Two tablespoons of vanilla essence.
Dry
One and a half cups of self-raising flour. (Approximately).
One and a half cups of toasted walnuts.
One tablespoon of crushed ginger (you may use powder).
One teaspoon of cinnamon.
One teaspoon of nutmeg. (Optional).
One teaspoon of all spice. (Optional).
Icing/frosting
One cup of mashed pumpkin.
One teaspoon of instant coffee (please see tips)
Two tablespoons of vanilla essence.
A pinch of salt.
Two tablespoons of coconut cream.
One third of a cup of maple syrup. (Approximately. You may need more or less, depending on the sweetness of your pumpkin variety).
Three tablespoons of corn flour.
A little water.
One egg yolk. (Can be deleted for a vegan version. You may need to adjust the other ingredients for taste.)
Chopped walnuts.
Instructions
Line your muffin tin with baking paper.
Preheat your oven to 240c (464 f for our American friends).
Making the Muffin.
Combine the wet ingredients.
Fold in the dry ingredients. Fold in just enough to form a batter. Do not over mix or your muffins will be tough. The flour measurement is given as guidance only. Different pumpkins have different moisture ratios. Adjust accordingly.
Put your muffins into the oven and bake at the high temperature for about ten minutes. This will force the muffins up and you will get that yummy café look.
After ten minutes, drop the temperature down to 220c (428f). Bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until an inserted knife comes out clean.
Allow the muffins to cool.
The icing/frosting.
Combine the mashed pumpkin, instant coffee, vanilla essence, salt, coconut cream and maple syrup in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer.
Take the corn flour and just enough water to form a paste. Mix the water and corn flour until smooth. Add to the pumpkin mixture and whisk in. Allow the mixture to thicken over heat. (If making the vegan version, you can stop here).
Whisk in yolk. Keep over the heat for about three minutes, whisking the mixture to avoid it sticking to the bottom of the pan and burning. You do need to cook it thoroughly though, otherwise your egg yolk will be raw, which I don’t advise.
When the mixture is complete, cover it with cling wrap and let it cool in the fridge for about an hour. It will thicken up and you can spread it onto your muffins. Sprinkle with chopped walnuts.
For a vegan option, simply delete the egg yolk from the topping. Adjust your ingredients to taste.
Tips.
Regarding my instruction to use instant coffee, I don’t consider this ideal for flavour, but it contains less moisture than brewed coffee. The mashed pumpkin in this recipe makes it high in moisture and if I was to add brewed coffee, I would have to add more flour to the mixture. That would dilute the flavour of the muffin.
I think this recipe would be completely scrummy with white chocolate chunks, but simultaneously dairy free and sugar free chocolates are really hard to come by. And they usually get discontinued. Not enough market, I fear.
But if you can eat white chocolate (it’s possible to find dairy free or sugar free, but seldom both), then you could either switch the cup and a half of walnuts with white chocolate chunks, or do half and half, if you want to keep the walnuts as well.
Until next time, happy cooking!
Love, Ruthie.
