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Pumpkin Spice Muffins

June 1, 2011

Ingredients

  • 1 cup All-purpose Flour
  • ½ cup Sugar
  • 2 tsp. Baking Powder
  • 1 ½ tsp. Cinnamon
  • ¼ tsp. Ground Ginger
  • ½ tsp. Nutmeg
  • ½ tsp. Salt
  • 4 tbsp. Butter
  • 1 cup Pumpkin Puree
  • ½ cup Evaporated milk
  • 1 Egg
  • 1 ½ tsp. Vanilla

Preparation Instructions

Oven temp: 400 degrees

Cook time: 25 minutes

Servings: 12 muffins

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Generously grease 12 muffin tins.

Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Cut in butter with two knives or a pastry blender until it is fully incorporated. In a separate bowl, mix together pumpkin, evaporated milk, egg, and vanilla. Pour pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture. Add raisins. Fold gently until mixture is just combined.

Pour into a greased muffin pan—batter hardly ever fills all twelve unless you keep it down to 1/2 full. Sprinkle with remaining cinnamon-sugar-nutmeg mixture over the top of each unbaked muffin.

Bake for 25 minutes. Allow to cool in pan for 15 minutes, then remove and allow to cool.

How to make your own pumpkin puree

Note: This is easier to do with smaller pumpkins.

  1. Cut off the top of the pumpkin (as if you were carving a jack-o-lantern). Then cut the rest of the pumpkin in half.
  2. Scrape out the seeds and pulp with a spoon or scoop. Save the seeds and roast them later for a yummy snack!
  3. Place the pumpkins on a baking sheet, face up or face down. Bake them at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes or until they are tender enough to stick a fork into them. They are usually a nice, light-golden brown color at this stage.
  4. Peel the skin off the pumpkin pieces. The skin should come off fairly easily. If it does not, the pumpkins may be undercooked.
  5. Put the pumpkin pieces in a food processor or a blender (use a little bit of water if using a blender) and blend until smooth. If you do not have a blender or a food processor, you can mash the pumpkins by hand. If the pumpkin looks dry, add some water. If the pumpkin puree is too watery, strain it through a cheese cloth to remove excess water.
  6. The pumpkin puree is now ready to use. If you want to save it for later, you can put it in a plastic storage bag or container and stick it in the freezer.

Plant Parts

The pumpkin an angiosperm and dicot in the family Cucurbitaceae, which includes plants like gourds. Pumpkins are also monoecious, meaning that the flowers produced are either male or female but both are on the same plant. The pumpkin is fruit, where the pulp is derived from the ovary, and the seeds are derived from the ovule.

Nutrition

Pumpkins are an excellent source of Vitamin E, which is an antioxidant and also plays a role in enzymatic activities, gene expression and neurological funtioning. Pumpkins are a good source of other antioxidants such as Vitamins A and C, as well as beta-carotene, which pumpkins their orange color. Pumpkins also contain Thiamin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Dietary Fiber, Riboflavin, Potassium, Copper and Manganese.

Origins and History

Pumpkins are first known to have been cultivated by Native Americans long before the arrival of Columbus. Along with corns and beans, pumpkins belong to what the Native Americans termed the “Three Sisters” – a group of crop plants that grew and thrived together. Bean vines provided nitrogen in the soil to nourish the corn and stabilize the stalks on windy days, while pumpkins sheltered the shallow corn roots, shaded the ground to discourage weeds as well as preserve nature. This practice of cultivation is one of the earliest examples of sustainable agriculture.

Native Americans took advantage of all parts of the pumpkin plant for practical use. Strips of the pumpkin fruit were roasted over the fire and eaten. Pumpkin seeds were roasted and eaten as well as used for medicinal purposes. Pumpkin blossoms were added to stews as flavoring, and dried pumpkin was ground into flour. In addition, dried pumpkin shells were converted to bowls and containers to store grain.

When Columbus carried the pumpkin seeds back with him to Europe, they were originally used to feed pigs and seldom used as a human food source.

Fun Facts

  • Pumpkins have been domesticated for so long that they can no longer be found in the wild.
  • Where to find pumpkins locally: You can harvest pumpkins in late September through October at one of the many pumpkin patches in Northfield. Pumpkins can also be found at the local farmers market!

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