Mini Pumpkin Donuts

So you guys all know how much i LOVE muffins,

particularily muffins of the fall-pumpkin-cinnaminy persuasion...

...but did you know that you can make donuts but call them muffins?

I may have died and gone to heaven.

These little babies are baked not fried, so they are, erm, good for you.

And you don't need anything special to make them, just a mini muffin pan and a plastic bag.

Simply mix up the batter, put a tbsp or so in each mini muffin cup, and bake away!

Let them cool for a few minutes, then shake them up in a bag filled with delicious cinnamon-sugary goodness.

My only warning is that these must be eaten the day you sugar coat them,

I found out the hard (and sad) way that the sugar coating tends to melt if left for too long : (

The good news is that they are so good not many of them will last long enough for this to happen!

Last but not least,
high five yourself for making donuts that aren't fried and greasy,
and making muffins taste even better than usual : )


Recipe HERE


ENJOY!

Pumpkin Cinnamon Streusel Muffins

Muffins make me happy.

They make me happy because they are sweet and yummy and (sometimes) even good for you.

They make me happy because i am always hungry, pregnant or not.
They make me happy because they are usually super easy and quick to make.

But mostly they make me happy because a certain little someone who doesn't seem to eat anything at all
will pretty much always chow down on a homemade muffin.

These muffins make me happy for all the above stated reasons, AND because they are pumpkin. 

 We all know pumpkin means fall, right?  And we all know how much I LOVE FALL, right?
Right.  See?  Happiness is....

Pumpkin Cinnamon Streusel Muffins

Yield: 18ish muffins

1 cup white flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup water
1 cup canned pumpkin
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven 350F.  Line your muffin pan with liners, or spray with cooking spray.
Mix together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a medium bowl.  Set aside.
In a large bowl mix together the sugar, oil, water, pumpkin, eggs and vanilla until smooth and combined.
Slowly stir in the flour mixture until completely combined.

Streusel Topping:

1/2 cup oats
1 tsp flour
2 tbsp brown sugar
Dash cinnamon
2 tbsp cold butter

In a small bowl mix together the oats, flour, sugar, and cinnamon.
Cut in the butter (i used my fingers) until the mixture is all crumbly and well, streuselly.

Fill muffin cups up 3/4 of the way with batter and top with the streusel topping.
Bake 17 - 20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean and they are all nice an golden brown.
Let them cool at least a tiny bit before devouring.

The original recipe I followed (found HERE) had loads more sugar and about 3 times as much streusel topping.
And although I am surprised (and mildly ashamed) to admit it, there is such a thing as too much streusel.
I pretended I was making them healthier by cutting back on all that sugar and topping,
and swapping in some whole wheat flour.
Next time I will also try cutting out some of the oil by using more pumpkin
(and because really, have you seen the size of those cans of pumpkin? they are gigantic!)

Happy fall baking!!