Pumpkin Yumkins

I love this time of year with cooler weather and beautiful fall colors all around.  But for me fall equals pumpkins, in the store, in the garden, decorations, yummy  yummy yummy pumpkin recipes, all of it. I just love pumpkins with their beautiful colors and unique wonderful flavor.  I’ll eat pumpkin till I turn orange, love, love it!  Last year I felt the same exact way and I even did a little bloggy roundup on super yummy pumpkin recipes.  One in which I came across this recipe for Pumpkin Yumkins and I am still kicking myself that I waited this long to makes these.  They have a wonderful rich pumpkin flavor.  And best of all is my boys absolutely love them.  I’ve made them twice now and neither time did they last.  I did make a few modifications to the recipe for ingredients I had on hand and to make it slightly healthier, but be sure to check out Delish Foods for the original recipe.

Ingredients: 1 c pecans, 3/4 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature, 1 c firmly packed dark brown sugar, 1 large egg, 1 (15 oz) can pure pumpkin, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 2 c all-purpose flour, 1/8 tsp cloves, 1/8 tsp nutmeg, 1/8 tsp allspice, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt

Start off with a skillet to toast your pecans, on medium heat, stirring often

Then in your mixer add your softened butter and brown sugar, cream for about 1 minute on medium speed

Then add in 1 egg and mix another minute or so

Once the pecans have toasted maybe 5 minutes, set aside to cool

Then to your creamed butter and sugar add your can of pumpkin

and vanilla and mix for another minute, be sure to scrape the sides of the bowl down

Then in a separate bowl sift your flour

then measure out your baking powder and baking soda

and spices (the original recipes does not call for the spices, but I just love them too much to leave them out, but if you’d like you don’t have to add them)

cinnamon

nutmeg

cloves

allspice

and salt

Be sure to mix well

Then slowly add in your flour mixture to your pumpkin mixture,

being careful to only stir as few times as possible, maybe 20 turns, the less turns the better, it makes for a fluffier muffin.

Then gently mix in your cooled toasted pecans, maybe another 3 turns

Then in your greased muffin tins, spoon out your pumpkin mixture and bake at 350 for 20 minutes

While the yumkins are baking you can make your topping.  I used yogurt because it’s what I had on hand even though the original recipe calls for cream cheese frosting.

I think the yogurt adds a wonderful light flavor plus its a nicer on your waist line, so to me that equals I can make these more often!

Topping: 1 cup yogurt, 1 tsp fresh squeezed orange juicen (small), zest of one small orange

Pour the yogurt in a small bowl

Then Zest the orange, and add it to the yogurt

Then juice the same orange over the yogurt

and mix well, refrigerate until use

Once the yumkins are finished baking, dump them out on a towel

and if you can’t wait for them to cool another second for them to cool, go ahead and add the yogurt topping

and hurry up and enjoy!!

But please be careful to not leave the yumkins unattended with 2 toddlers around, because this just might happen

That is 3 perfectly good yumkins dropped in a full glass of water!!  Oh the horror!

Pumpkin Yumkins

adapted from Delish Foods

1 c pecans
1/2 c (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 c firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1 (15 oz) can pure pumpkin
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 c all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp cloves
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp allspice
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Yogurt topping:
1 cup yogurt
1 tsp fresh squeezed orange juice
zest of one orange

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Arrange the nuts on a large skillet and lightly toast until golden brown and aromatic. Cool the nuts, and then coarsely chop.

Grease/line 12 standard size muffin cups. Using a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl on medium speed about 1 minute. Add the egg and beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Add the pumpkin and vanilla and beat until combined,. Stir in sifted flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt. Stir in pecans. The batter will be thick. The less stirring the better try to keep it to 20 or less turns.

Spoon batter into muffin cups just to the top. Bake about 20 minutes, until the muffins are firm to the touch or a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool the muffins in the pan for 5 minutes, then invert onto racks for cooling. Cool for at least 30 minutes before frosting.

In a small bowl pour 1 cup yogurt, Stir in the orange zest and juice.

Coat the tops of the cooled yumkins with yogurt.  Well-wrapped yumkins will keep about 3 days at room temperature.

Source: Adapted from the Pastry Queen by Rebecca Rather with Alison Oresman, Ten Speed Press, 2004

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