Pumpkin Muffins

    It is now October and fall is in full swing! Well, the leaves are falling and the pumpkins are stacked tall in front of Walmart but the weather hasn't gotten the memo yet. Instead of a crisp 65 (as it should be) it is a toasty 83. Blegh. So, because I am in total denial how warm it still is, this week I'm cranking the AC, throwing on a sweater, and baking some of my pumpkin faves. In the coming weeks there will be many (many) more pumpkin and apple recipes coming your way so prepare to be sick of me! 

    The first recipe I am posting is a basic but shows topping pumpkin muffin recipe. I love this muffin recipe because it takes all of my favorite things about pumpkin and muffin goodies and puts it into one little package. It has a crunchy sugar top, all of the cozy fall spices, and best of all, only uses one bowl!

    I start this recipe by browning some butter. You can just melt it if you want but browning it adds an amazing carameley flavor that I can't resist. While my butter is browning, I measure out my sugar and mix it with my eggs and pumpkin. Once my butter is ready, I slowly pour it into my wet ingredients while mixing continuously. If your butter is cooled you can just dump it in and mix it, but I like to take it straight from the stove to my bowl so I have to be just a little more careful. I like to use salted butter because having 2 different kinds of butter in my fridge overwhelms me. Besides, salted better is just so much better for spreading on and cooking just about anything so I'm not about to switch to all unsalted. If you do use unsalted though this is when you should mix in your salt. 

    With all of my wet ingredients mixed, I break out my sifter and dump in my flour, baking soda, baking powder, and pumpkin pie spice. You don't need to use a sifter but I like to because it tends to make my muffins a little fluffier and since I mixed my wet ingredients first, sifting the dry into the wet lessens the risk of baking soda/powder pockets. I think we can all agree these are the worst so even if you think it's pointless suck it up and sift your dry ingredients!

    With my dry ingredients sifted I use a rubber spatula to fold everything together until there are no more dry streaks. If you do not sift your dry stuff (heathen) your batter will be a little lumpy but don't try to get all of the lumps out or your batter will be over mixed. It's just the big streaks we want to worry about. 

    In an ideal world you will have preheated your oven before you started mixing your ingredients but if you're like me you do it as your getting your muffin tin. I preheat my oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and start lining my muffin tin with cupcake liners. I then use a scoop to fill each liner about 3/4 of the way. If you want some big bakery muffins the trick is to only use every other spot and fill the liners to the top. This way the muffins have room to really spread and get a big fluffy top. 

    Before I bake my muffins I top them with a healthy amount of brown sugar to create the crunchy sugar crust that is to die for. Then, I pop them into the oven for 20-25 minutes. If you are making mini muffins only bake them for 15-20 minutes and for jumbo bump up the time to 25-30 minutes. 

    When you pull these babies out of the oven it will be hard not to immediately devour half the pan they look so tasty! However, if you let them cool for a bit and then maybe spread some salted butter on top they are heavenly. If wearing a sweater and drinking warm coffee on a crisp fall morning while leaves were crunching under your feet was a baked good it would be one of these muffins. Don't believe me? Make them! If you're really nice I might make them for you! 

    What did you think of this recipe? Questions? Comments? Concerns? Leave a comment below!