PUMPKIN MUFFINS

I missed going in to volunteer at Hillcrest Thrift Shop due to conflicts for three weeks.  So I had to look for something to bake to take this week.  I didn't have to look too hard though.

I actually made some banana gingerbread on Monday since I had the time.  (I will be writing up that recipe soon.  It was really good.) While it was baking in the oven, I was just looking through a file of recipes to try and found a recipe I had cut from a newspaper (didn't save or write which newspaper, but I think it was the Ventura Star Free Press not the name of the paper anymore).  It was a recipe for muffins.  I put it aside just in case I felt like trying it Tuesday morning before going in at 12:30.

Well, I got up Tuesday morning and you know I decided to make them.  I told my husband to eat one to let me know how they tasted. (I didn't want to take them if they weren't good....I did have the banana gingerbread I could still take.)

I was fixing my hair and he came in and said, "Well, I ate one of your muffins.  They were good...not sweet though, but good.  Just like I like them."  I told him since they only had 1/4 cup sugar in them they were probably more of a breakfast muffin.  So when I took in ten of them (I left one more for my husband to eat later), the volunteers were finishing up their lunch. They "oohed and ahhed" when they saw them (they usually do when I bring in my treats).  I told them they weren't sweet.  Jim, the manager, took one and said it was good....he needed to eat less sugar.  N.C. came by the register later and told me what a good cook I was and I should open a business. When my shift was over, I went to the community room to get my container. There were 5 left.  I took one to eat and left the other four. Dana said she hadn't gotten one yet.  I told her to take whatever was still there when she left. 

When I got home, I ate the one I had taken.  They aren't sweet, but they were really good.  In fact, they were just right. My husband thought I was eating the one I had left (for him), but I told him I had brought it from Hillcrest and I had left the one for him.  He immediately went and got it and ate it. (I think he thought they were just right too.)

They were so good....can you guess what I am doing this morning?  Yep.  I am making another batch.  (I made the second batch and lowered the temperature to 375 degrees and they didn't get as brown.  I also only had 4 paper liners and so I just sprayed the other cups with cooking spray and that worked out fine.)

PUMPKIN MUFFINS

2      cups buttermilk baking mix
1/2   cup raisins
1/3   cup canned pumpkin
1/4   cup chopped walnuts
1/4   cup sugar
1/4   cup skim milk
2      tablespoons oil
1       teaspoon ground cinnamon
1       egg

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  

Combine all ingredients in a bowl.  Mix just until blended.  (I added the raisins first in the baking mix and made sure they were all separated before adding the rest of the ingredients.)

Pour batter into 12 paper-lined muffin cups.  (My batter was thick. I spooned it in the cups.  It also works fine without the paper liners.  Just spray the muffin cups with cooking spray.)

Bake until golden brown, for 16 - 18 minutes.  Remove from pan immediately.

Makes 12 muffins.