Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins

I can't leave you without a muffin recipe for too long. It is, after all, my primary source of sustenance after rollerskiing. I figured I'd go along the lines of the King Arthur Flour Mini Pumpkin Cakes, which had been a success as a cupcake, but I wanted something a little healthier and a little less fluffy and airy. Fluffy is a great quality in a cupcake, but I like something I can bite into when I eat muffins. Something that will support nuts, and fruit, and whatever else I feel like putting into it. I made two versions of these muffins, the first was with all white flour (I wanted to make it whole wheat but I forgot until it was too late), twice the nuts, and no cranberries. This was a good muffin, and I was going to just make it again, but I didn't have as many walnuts, so I added half a cup of cranberries. Random. But they're a delicious addition. I upped the sugar a little too, since cranberries are so sour, but I love how you get little sour pockets of redness inside the muffin. If you're not so into the cranberry-explosions in your mouth, skip the cranberries and just go with all nuts. Or you could add raisins or dried cranberries. Its a muffin, people, the possibilities are endless!

Having gone through two batches of these muffins by now, I have discovered - they freeze very well. It must be all that pumpkin goop in them, but they stay really moist in the freezer, and won't crumble to pieces like some low-fat muffins are wont to do. I think these have moved up to second place in the "freezer muffins" category, behind the carrot spice muffins, and they're probably in the top five of my overall "favorite muffin" category. They got a good Ed-rating, too, despite having pumpkin in them. He even knew that they were pumpkin muffins, and went back for a second one. I call that a success!

Pumpkin Cranberry-Walnut Muffins
Makes 12 muffins with pretty big tops

1C pumpkin puree
2 eggs
1/3C plain yogurt (skim is fine)
1C sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tbs spices (cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg in this case, heavy on the ginger)
3/4C whole wheat flour
1/2C white flour
2 tbs ground flaxseed
1/2C chopped walnuts
1/2C chopped fresh or frozen cranberries*

*If you use dried cranberries or raisins, reduce the sugar to 3/4C. You could also add some crystallized ginger.

Preheat your oven to 400F. Grease a muffin tin. In a large bowl, mix the pumpkin, eggs, yogurt, sugar, baking powder, salt, spices, nuts, and fruit. Add the flours. Mix to combine, and then pour the batter into the muffin tins. Bake for 20-30 minutes, until the muffins are starting to look pretty brown on top. Since these are so moist, they're ok with baking a little longer than normal, so that they don't start to taste gummy.

If you're in the mood for a cakier muffin, you can substitute parts or all of the yogurt for oil. It will make it lighter. No guarantees as to how it will work out with the nuts and fruit, though.

Sorry the picture is not great. Some things just deserve to be eaten instead of photographed...