Pumpkin Patch extraordinaire!

In case you haven’t noticed, there has been a common theme to many of my postings lately – MILLET!  I can’t get enough of the stuff. This millet muffin recipe rocks like all the other recipes containing this fabulous grain.  They add a crunch that makes everyone light up and smile.

In addition to my fondness for millet, I was feeling remiss in not posting a recipe with pumpkin yet this season.  I have cut, carved, scooped out, and cooked many a pumpkin over the past couple months so for this round, I took the cheater’s route and bought a can of pumpkin puree.  But no shame in making things easy for yourself, right?  And the canned pumpkin works really well!

I adapted this recipe from one of my favorite websites – Joy the Baker. She used chocolate chips in her recipe, which is a great way to go.  I decided to go the healthier route and use walnuts and raisins instead.   Either way, it’s a win-win.  These muffins are dense, filling, yummy, and mostly healthy.  Enjoy!

Makes about 16 smallish muffins

Ingredients

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup pureed pumpkin
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 cup dry millet
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 generous cup chopped walnuts
1/4 generous cup cranberries

 Method

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and line muffin tins with paper or foil liners.

In a large bowl, mix together oil, honey, brown sugar, eggs, pureed pumpkin, and vanilla extract.

In a medium bowl, mix together flour, salt, baking soda, spices, and millet.

Add dry ingredients, all at once, to wet ingredients.  Add buttermilk and fold together.  When batter is almost completely mixed add in walnuts and cranberries.  Mix to combine well but do not over mix.

Spoon into prepared muffins tins.  Fill 3/4 full. Bake 20-24 minutes, until toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Serve warm  and eat immediately  store in plastic bags and eat over several days, or freeze and pull them out as needed.