I am obviously on a pumpkin kick right now, so I am playing around with all kinds of pumpkin recipes. Since I had baked the beautiful sugar pumpkin to make homemade fresh pumpkin puree a few days prior, I had muffins on my mind. I also wanted to experiment with making up my own recipe, since I had really never done so with baking. Playing around with flours and measurements when it concerns baking, frankly intimidates me. I am always worried that with one little misstep, an entire recipe can be ruined. With all the baking I have been doing in the last few months, I felt like I knew enough about what flours I liked and what they needed to be paired with, to attempt to create my own combination. I am happy to report that my first attempt at making my own recipe, was a success!

These muffins are perfectly moist and fluffy and have so much pumpkin flavor. I decided to add in some chopped hazelnuts and dried cranberries that I had in the pantry, please feel free to omit these, or try out other nuts, fruits or even chocolate chips. Experiment and have fun. I am finally loving baking, which is something I have always longed to enjoy.

Looking to make these vegan? Instead of two eggs, use 1 tablespoon Ener-G Egg Replacer whisked with 1/4 cup warm water and use almond or soy milk in place of the milk.

Pumpkin Spice Muffins with Hazelnuts and Cranberries
makes 12 muffins

1 1/3 cups almond flour
1 cup corn flour (allergic to corn? – try sorghum or brown rice flour)
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup organic dark brown sugar
2 farm fresh free range brown eggs (We get our eggs from Painted Meadows Farms)
1 1/3 cups fresh pumpkin puree
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup non-dairy milk
1/2 tablespoon organic vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts

Preheat oven to 375º F. Line a standard muffin tin with paper liners.

Mix dry ingredients (the first 11 ingredients) together in a large mixing bowl. In another bowl, whisk together your eggs, pumpkin, olive oil, milk, vanilla and lemon juice. Add the wet ingredients to the dry. Mix the batter thoroughly, either with your stand mixer or by hand, to combine all the ingredients, mix until smooth. Stir in the hazelnuts and dried cranberries by hand, mix until incorporated.

Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Bake in the center of a preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden and firm to the touch. A wooden pick inserted into the center should emerge clean.

Cool the muffin pan on a wire rack for five minutes. Gently pop the muffins out to continue cooling on the rack (don’t cool them longer than 5 minutes in the hot pan- they’ll definitely get soggy). Enjoy a muffin after they have cooled 10 minutes.

Freeze any leftover muffins in tightly sealed freezer bags and pop one out for a quick and easy breakfast.