Pumpkin Muffins with Pecans

I have had a craving for pumpkin for days now so I decided to give in to it. I had a can of pure pumpkin in the cupboard and all the extra ingredients handy to whip up a dozen glorious little pumpkin muffins. These are topped with pecans and turbinado sugar for crunch but be forewarned, the pecans will weigh down the very light batter so they will not rise as much as you would expect. If you want a rounder top, just leave them plain before baking.

I found this source recipe on Healthy Food For Living and adjusted it slightly. I decided to leave out the cream cheese filling and just go with a straight-forward fluffy muffin. They are not too sweet and have so much depth of flavor given the cinnamon, cloves, ginger and nutmeg added to the batter. Superb with a cup of tea.

LET'S BEGIN

First off, have that key ingredient handy: Pumpkin - pure pumpkin, NOT pie filling

RECIPE:

WHAT YOU NEED

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour, sifted
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 cup Sucanat or packed dark brown sugar (I split the difference and used 1/4 cup of each)
2 Tbsp unsulfured molasses
1/4 cup canola oil
2 large eggs, lightly whisked
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup lowfat buttermilk
1/2 cup chopped pecans
turbinado or demerara sugar

MAKE IT

PREHEAT oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly coat a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray or line with paper cups.
IN A MEDIUM BOWL, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour through nutmeg).
IN A LARGE BOWL, whisk together the sugar, molasses, oil, and eggs until combined. Whisk in the pumpkin, vanilla, and buttermilk.
ADD dry ingredients into wet and stir just until fully moistened.
SPOON batter into prepared muffin tin, filling to the top of the liner
SPRINKLE each filled muffin cup with a few pecans and sugar
BAKE muffins for 23-26 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean
LET MUFFINS COOL in the muffin tin for 5 minutes.
TRANSFER muffins to a wire rack and let cool completely.

This recipe also seen here: