Pumpkin Muffins

Well now that the elections over, we can all return to normal life. PHEW! And normal life involves making lots of fall foods! Can I just say, I am SO excited it is November. I know I've blabbed on about this already, but seriously. I love November, especially now that I live in Florida. November signals the beginning of fall for us down here and it also involves holiday weekends, Thanksgiving and all foods fall. To kick off my own fall food extravaganza, I made a recipe that as a kid, I never appreciated, but as an adult, I have fallen in love with! Every year, after Halloween, my mom would make these pumpkin muffins out of the pumpkins we had carved. I cheated and used organic canned pumpkin, but it didn't change the taste a bit! These muffins stay moist and fresh for days somehow and taste good at room temperature or slightly warmed with a cup of coffee. Believe it or not, this is the first time I've ever made them because my mom used to always send them to me while I was in college :) And now that I've made them, I think I will begin a new foray into pumpkin foods, so keep your eye out.

Cooking Notes: Below is my mother's original recipe. I added in a dash of ground clove in addition to the other spices in the mixture. I also used 1/4 cup canola oil for this go round. And lastly, in addition to the 1/4 tsp sugar over top of each muffin, I also added another dash of cinnamon per muffin.

Pumpkin Muffins (make 1 dozen)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup canned pumpkin (or real pumpkin; just NOT pumpkin pie)
1/4 cup butter (melted)/or veggie oil
1 egg 

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease bottom of 12 medium muffin cups 2 ¾ inches in diameter. Mix all ingredients just until flour is moistened-batter should be lumpy. (Mix with a fork). Fill muffin cups 2/3 full. Sprinkle ¼ tsp sugar over batter in each cup (best part). Bake 15-20 minutes. Immediately remove from pan.