#squash muffins

[carnet-interieur]

Spiced Butternut Squash Muffins Here's another fantastic way to use up some of the squash harvest! These wonderful muffins are filled with flavor!

[bergzerk]

Spicy Apricot Squash Muffins - Bread Spicy apricot and squash muffins have an extra bite thanks to plenty of ginger added to the batter for a boost to go along with your coffee.

[ronniefein]

Squash Streusel Muffins

Last Thanksgiving I had some cooked pumpkin left over after making some pies, so in an effort not to waste any food, I mashed some of the pieces and used a cupful to make muffins. They were so good that I made them again a few times but used cooked winter squash.

Even better!

Those muffins came in really handy for breakfast when I had sleepover guests for New Year’s weekend.

These are delicious with the streusel top — a nice nosh with afternoon tea or coffee — but they’re good plain too.

Follow me on Instagram @RonnieVFein

SQUASH STREUSEL MUFFINS 

STREUSEL:

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup quick cooking or rolled oats

2 tablespoons white sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons vegetable shortening or solid coconut oil, cut into chunks (butter if desired)

Place the flour, oats, sugar and salt in a bowl and mix ingredients to distribute them evenly. Add the shortening and work it into the dry ingredients with fingertips or a pastry blender until the mixture looks like coarse meal. Set aside.

BATTER:

1 cup mashed, cooked squash (canned pumpkin is fine)

1/2 cup white sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup oat milk (or other dairy or nondairy milk)

2 large eggs

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon grated fresh nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 10 muffin pan wells. Combine the mashed squash, white sugar, brown sugar, vegetable oil, oat milk and eggs in a large bowl and whisk the ingredients for 1-2 minutes or until thoroughly blended. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger and add the mixture to the squash mixture. Whisk or mix the ingredients for 1-2 minutes or until thoroughly blended. Spoon equal amounts of the batter into the prepared wells. Sprinkle equal amounts of the streusel on top of each muffin. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Makes 10

[ronniefein]

It only took two months to gain about 10 pounds after I started my first full-time job.

Back then, even back then, in the dinosaur era, when the only yogurt you could find easily was Dannon (in maybe 6-7 flavors), I brought a yogurt to the office. I was a freshman attorney in a big, bustling law office on Wall Street. I was so clueless then I didn't realize that the proper office hours were NOT from 8:00 a.m., when I liked to get in (so I could also leave early and have a life), but 10:00 or 10:30 (and then have dinner with the team and come home late).

I brought in my yogurt and ate it early, but then, when the rest of the lawyers came to work, they would bring like a full American breakfast: eggs, hash browns, bacon, toast.

So, in order to try to be part of the team and a little less clueless, I ordered in breakfast too. Usually it was a blueberry muffin and some juice. Those blueberry muffins cost me 10 pounds.

But I did learn three things. One, I could never consume an "American breakfast" at my desk. It always reminded me of how bad your car smells when you have french fries wrapped up in a paper bag getting all soft and steamy.

Two, that food writing pays a lot less but has been an infinitely better career for me than working day and night as a lawyer.

Three, that I love, love, love muffins. Blueberry muffins sometimes, pumpkin or squash muffins now, when the scent of autumn spices is so alluring.

Squash Muffins

4 tablespoons butter

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon grated nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup mashed squash

1 large egg

1/2 cup golden raisins, optional

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease 10 muffin tin cups. Melt the butter and set it aside to cool. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger in a bowl. Place the buttermilk, squash, egg and melted butter in a second bowl and beat to blend ingredients thoroughly. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones and mix just until combined. Fold in the raisins if used. Fill muffin cups evenly with the batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the muffins cool for 15 minutes. Remove the muffins from the pan and serve warm or let cool to room temperature. Makes 10