Melissa's blog

Muffins of the Pumpkin Variety

Pumpkin and Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins

Pumpkin Maple Muffins
Ingredients:
3/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. butter, softened
1 c. pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie mix)
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 c. maple syrup
1 egg, beaten
1 3/4 c. flour
pinch of salt

Cream together sugar, butter, and maple syrup. Add eggs and pumpkin, beat until smooth (medium speed). Mix additional ingredients in separate bowl, and add to pumpkin. Stir until moist. Batter will be lumpy. Fill greased tins half full. I usually get anywhere from 15-18 muffins out of this recipe. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

Pumpkin Chocolate Muffins
Ingredients:
2 1/4 c. flour
1/4 c unsweetened dark cocoa powder
pinch of salt
1 1/2 c buttermilk (or substitute)
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2/3 c brown sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 egg, beaten
1 can of pumpkin

Combine dry ingredients and mix. Add wet ingredients and stir until moistened. Grease muffin tins, fill to 3/4. Bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes. Yields about 16 muffins.


In keeping with the grand Thanksgiving potluck theme, here are two more dessert-type recipes. I decided that my food needed to have an autumnal color palette, and they really do look pretty. They're pretty tasty, too. The maple deepens the pumpkin flavor a little bit, and the pumpkin adds a nice contrast and an almost "creamy" flavor to the chocolate ones.

Cranberry-Tangerine-Sage Roasted Turkey

Before

Ingredients:
1 Turkey breast (and if you'd like, a package of drumsticks)
3-5 tangerines (the bigger the turkey, the more tangerines you'll need)
Fresh sage
Fresh thyme
Ground dried sage
2 cups fresh cranberries
1 large yellow onion

Preheat oven to 375.
Place the turkey in a roasting pan or other fairly deep baking pan. Sprinkle the onion around the base of the turkey. Halve one tangerine and stick it in the underside of the turkey. Halve another tangerine and squeeze the juices of both halves on top of the turkey. Drop the halves in the pan when finished. Add cranberries to the pan, with some on top of the turkey if possible. Press sage and thyme leaves into the turkey, and rub the ground sage into the skin. Place in oven.

Roast turkey by weight instructions on package, but watch very carefully. Every 30 minutes or so, squeeze a tangerine quarter on top of the turkey and add it to the pan. Baste additionally if necessary, to moisten the turkey. I roasted two six-pound turkey breasts for about 3 hours each.

After

I thought I'd post a pretty impressive recipe for the first entry. I've been cooking the Thanksgiving turkey at my parents' home for the last four years or so, and was saddened to know that I won't make it home in time to cook it this year. WIth that in mind, I'm hosting a Thanksgiving potluck for some medical student friends tonight, just to give us a chance to interact with each other away from class, and not in the presence of alcohol - you've never seen a group of individuals who can drink like medical students can. It involves pretty much babysitting the turkey, so if you're someone who doesn't like to do much more than check the turkey a few times to make sure it's not on fire, this is probably not the recipe for you.

This is far-and-away the best-tasting, most tender turkey I've ever made.I used precut turkey breasts and drumsticks to cut down on some of the carving time. Make sure that when you're basting and squeezing the tangerines that you get the drumsticks too, to keep them moist.