Pumpkin Cuffins

Well, it's officially October, which means I'm going to make pumpkin-flavored everything and refuse to feel even a little bit guilty about it! First up: Pumpkin Cuffins.

You know...not really cupcakes, not really muffins. Cuffins. You can also call them muffcakes, if you're feeling wildly inappropriate on this fine autumn day.

Okay, semantics aside - these are delicious! They're super soft and fluffy, and the sweet frosting perfectly complements the pumpkin and spices in the cake. I made mini versions of these cuffins for K's family last year (after an often-ridiculed attempt at chocolate chip cookies that turned out a little more crispy than anticipated), and was notified that "these cupcakes are a hit!" by her 6-year old niece. There truly is no higher praise.

Pumpkin Cuffins
Adapted from Hell Yeah It's Vegan

Makes 12 cuffins

1¼ cup pumpkin puree
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup maple syrup
¼ coconut oil, melted
¼ cup soy milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp cloves
¼ tsp nutmeg
1½ cup flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt

1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
2 tablespoons soy milk

Preheat your oven to 350 F and line a regular-sized muffin tin with paper liners. Grab a large mixing bowl and stir together the pumpkin puree, brown sugar, maple syrup, coconut oil, soy milk, and vanilla until it's super smooth.

Super appetizing, yes?

In a separate small bowl, whisk together the spices (cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg), as well as the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Slowly shake the dry ingredients into the bigger bowl, stirring just until everything is evenly incorporated.

Baaaaaatter up!

Use a big spoon to fill each muffin cup up almost to the top - the cuffins will rise a little bit while they bake, but I promise they won't explode into pumpkin bombs. Place the tin in the oven and bake for 23-25 minutes, until a toothpick stuck into the center of a sacrificial cuffin comes out clean.

There were originally 12 cuffins...

To make the frosting, just whisk together the powdered sugar, coconoit oil, and soy milk until it's nice and thick, then spread liberally over each little pumpkiny treat. Let your cuffins cool completely before you frost them, or you'll have a giant mess on your hands. Enjoy!

My Muffin Top

I'm not sure I want to know what kind of Google searches are going to lead people to this post (fun fact, more than one poor soul has ended up here as a result of searching for "Pokemon eating sweets"), but I don't care - the more people know about today's Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins, the better!

I dunno, do I really need to sell you on muffins with chocolate in them? Vegan muffins and quick breads often end up unpleasantly gummy for some reason - any chemists here to clarify why this is so? - but these little treats are a happy exception. The insides are soft and fluffy, the tops are crunchy and sweet, and all the potassium and vitamins in the bananas cancels out the fact that you're eating chocolate for breakfast. Pro tip: I highly recommend eating these muffins warm for maximum chocolatey gooeyness.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
adapted from Doron Peterson’s Sticky Fingers’ Sweets

Makes 16 muffins

¼ cup coconut oil
½ cup sugar
3 ripe bananas
½ tsp vanilla
¾ cup soymilk
2 ¼  cups flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¼  tsp salt
½ tsp cinnamon
¼  tsp allspice
¼  tsp nutmeg
¾ cup chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 350 F and pop paper liners into a muffin tin. You can also use a little bit of Earth Balance or coconut oil to grease the pan instead. In a medium bowl, cream together the coconut oil and sugar until it's super smoothly - this should only take a few minutes. In another bowl, mash the shit of your bananas. They should look like something a toddler might smear in her hair while you try to give her a snack.

Pre-smooshing. 

Add the bananas and the vanilla to your sugar mixture and stir until evenly incorporated. Then add the soy milk and slowly stir until everything is blended up really well. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salta, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg. Dump this into the wet batter and carefully stir together to avoid a spicy cloud of flour from settling all over your kitchen. Don't overstir here! Just mix until there aren't any patches of flour or weird banana clumps visible in the concoction.

Bliss. 

Finally, the most important step - toss in the chocolate chips and stir the batter a couple of final times, stopping as soon as all the nuggets are mixed into the batter. Use a big spoon to drop the batter into the prepared muffin cups.

Taste-test liberally. 

You can fill them up almost to the top, and be sure to monitor for appropriate chocolate chip distribution. Pop the muffin tin in the oven for about 30 minutes, until a toothpick stuck into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Enjoy!