Chilly months + Pumpkin muffins = Bliss

I'm a flavors of the seasons kind of a girl and during the chillier months I love gingerbread, pecans, rich earthy sweet potatoes, and, of course, pumpkin :). One of my Christmas presents to myself was a beautiful cookbook, "The Food You Crave" by Ellie Krieger. One of the recipes is a whole wheat pumpkin muffin. They turned out delicious with just the right texture mixing both wh0le wheat and unbleached all-purpose flours. Try it...you'll like it!

Pumpkin Muffins

Cooking spray
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-grain pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons unsulphered molasses
1/4 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup lowfat buttermilk
1/4 cup raw, unsalted pumpkin seeds (I did not use the pumpkin seeds)
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose and whole-wheat flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg.
In a large bowl, whisk the sugar, molasses, oil and 1 egg until combined. Add the other egg and whisk well. Whisk in the pumpkin and vanilla. Whisk in the flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the buttermilk. Whisk just until combined.
Pour the batter into the prepared muffin pan and sprinkle with the pumpkin seeds. Tap the pan on the counter a few times to remove any air bubbles. Bake for 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center of 1 of the muffins comes out clean.
Let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the muffins to loosen them and unmold. Cool completely on the rack.

*Keeps for 3 days in the fridge/3 months in the freezer in an air tight container.

Yumm...double, dark chocolate...for the last 5 years I have had a love affair (don't worry honey...you're still my man:) with dark chocolate. It began after I read in a health journal that all of the anti-oxidants are oh so good for you! That's all I needed to hear...well, read. Tosca Reno endorses dark chocolate for goodness sakes!..in moderation, of course.

When looking for which cocoa to use in your cupcakes dark, dutch press cocoa not only give the best flavor but also the richest color. I suggest at least 65% cocoa with no added sweeteners, or flavors. A good cocoa should be able to stand on it's own!

Happy baking and good luck not eating 1/2 the frosting "testing" the consistency :).

Three cheers for lemon zest!

When I think about lemon I can't help but smile...so fragrant, so colorful, so...zesty! A little goes a long way and in fact if you have a recipe that calls for salt you can add a little lemon zest and cut the salt by half. I made these little gems as an expirement...my basic vegan, vanilla cupcake recipe...with a little organic lemon to the batter and frosting. What started as an experiment quickly became my favorite treat!

The next time your in the kitchen...think about our little yellow friends and smile!