Savory Pumpkin Applesauce Muffins

Savory Pumpkin Applesauce

Muffins

(yum! -vegan baking is easy)

I have frozen roasted pumpkin puree and frozen home made applesauce in my freezer.  The pumpkin needs to be used so I can roast more pumpkin and squash this season for  2013/2014 baking and soup making.  I looked online for a good vegan pumpkin applesauce muffin recipe.  I used a combination of several online sources to make these yummy savory muffins that were delightful with coffee in the morning.  They are not too sweet and the "pumpkin pie" spice flavoring is not overpowering at all.  All in all this is an easy recipe to whip up if you've got pumpkin puree and applesauce on hand.

I froze large containers of pumpkin puree and I'm glad because I ended up making 2 large batches of the muffins and freezing the extra muffins.  Frozen muffins are easy to thaw and even reheat and they lose very little of their yumminess.  Throw them in a gallon zip lock bag and take the extra air out - voile'.

This is an easy recipe to follow because you simply mix the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients into another bowl and then combine and stir gently.

The wet ingredients mixed together.

Adding the wet ingredients to the dry a little at a time.

Almost 2 dozen yummy muffins ready to be popped into the oven.

Pumpkin Applesauce Muffins

(makes 1 dozen)

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 cup of all purpose flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1 cup pumpkin puree

1/2 cup applesauce

1/2 cup canola or other oil

1 tablespoon vanilla

1.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2.  Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice into a large mixing bowl.  Stir together and set aside.

3.  Combine pumpkin puree, applesauce, oil and vanilla.  Stir.

4.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just mixed.  I did this in 3 steps - a little bit at a time and just stirred to combine.

5.  Spray muffin tins with spray oil. 

6.  Fill muffin tins about 2/3 - 3/4 and bake for about 15 - 18 minutes in a 325 degree oven.  I turned the muffin pan half way through for more even cooking (but my oven is almost 30 years old!)

Finished muffins with a few missing!

-----  I didn't have any pumpkin pie spice so I put together a mixture of cinnamon, ginger and cardamon.  Now I have the real mixture and I liked it much better in the second batch.

----- I froze a bunch of these muffins in a big ziplock bag and they thawed beautifully and tasted really fresh.

----- Try to time the cooking of these muffins with a cup of coffee or tea because the warm steaming muffin with hot cup of something is about the best thing!

----- Enjoy!

And finally.. here is what we hope is a bomber of a garden box with the right kind of gopher resistance!  It's filled with 12 broccoli plants, 18 kale plants, 6 chard plants, 6 spinach plants, and 6 snap peas.  I'm crossing my fingers that this lovely box can help get us through the winter with green vegetables!

Eat green, stay healthy, and practice gratitude!