Pumpkin Muffins

I finally opened up my Sarabeth's Bakery cookbook this morning, and decided to make one of the recipes....Pumpkin Muffins.  These muffins are light and cake like with a delicate taste of pumpkin and spices.  They are finished off with unsalted sunflower seeds, which give them an extra special appearance.  My family enjoyed them slathered with Apricot Preserves.  The original recipe called for pastry flour, and I only had the whole wheat kind...so I decided to replace the pastry flour with all purpose flour, and it worked just fine.  If I had used pastry flour, the end product might have been a bit more tender, but I was happy with the result using all purpose.   The original recipe also called for superfine granulated sugar, which I also did not have, but just gave regular granulated sugar a whiz in the food processor for a few minutes, and it did the trick.  I also increased the ground ginger ( because I like ginger )and  decreased the amount of raisins from the original recipe.  These muffins are a bit of an indulgence at 5 points each (7 points+), but are very generously sized.

Pumpkin Muffins from Sarabeth's Bakery by Sarabeth Levine

Servings -  14 -16 muffins    Serving Size - 1 muffin  Points per svg. - 5 points  PointsPlus per svg - 7 points+

Calories - 250.1,  Total Fat - 6.2g,  Fiber - 2g,  Protein - 3.5g,  Carb. - 46.6 

3 2/3 cups pastry flour, sifted ( I used all purpose)

1 TBS plus 1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground ginger ( I used 1/2 tsp.)

1/4 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp. kosher salt

8 TBS. ( 1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled and sliced into 8ths

1 2/3 cups superfine sugar

4 large eggs, room temperature, beaten

one 15-ounce can solid pack pumpkin

1 cup golden raisins ( I used a 1/2 cup)

1/4 cup hulled unsalted sunflower seeds

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Coat insides of muffin tins with cooking spray or use paper liners.  ( I used paper liners.)  

2. In medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt with a whisk.  Set aside.  In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter on high with the paddle attachment until creamy, about 1 minute.  Gradually beat in the sugar, and continue beating, scraping down the sides of the bowl, until the mixture is very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.  Gradually beat in the eggs.  Reduce the mixer speed to low.  Beat in the pumpkin; the mixture may look curdled.  In thirds, beat in the flour mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl often, and mix until smooth.  Add the raisins.  Beat on high another 15 seconds.  Batter will be thick.  

3. Using a 2 1/2 inch diameter ice cream scoop, portion the batter, rounded side up, into the prepared cups. Sprinkle with sunflower seeds.  

4. Bake for 10 minutes.  Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees F and continue baking until the tops fo the muffins are browned and a cake tester inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 15 minutes longer.  

5. Cool in pan for 10 minutes.  Remove the muffins from the pan and cool completely.  

PRINTABLE RECIPE