Pumpkin Doughnut Muffins

It’s that time of year. I can’t look at a pumpkin recipe and just go on about my day. I have to stop and try almost everything I see that’s made with pumpkin. It can’t be helped. The other day I happened upon a slideshow of pumpkin recipes on the Martha site, and when I saw these Pumpkin Doughnut Muffins, I could not resist. I had some pumpkin puree on hand after making the Pumpkin Roulade, so there was really no reason not to go ahead and make the muffins. They’re cakey and tender with the pumpkin puree and butter, and the spices give them that lovely pumpkin pie flavor. When they come out of the oven and have cooled a bit, they’re brushed with melted butter and rolled in cinnamon sugar. They would be perfect for breakfast on Thanksgiving morning or every morning for the rest of pumpkin season.

To start, the dry ingredients were sifted together, and those included flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and allspice. I added cinnamon as well. In a separate bowl, buttermilk and pumpkin puree were whisked. In the bowl of a stand mixer, butter was creamed with light brown sugar, and two eggs were added. Then, the dry ingredients were mixed into the butter in three stages alternating with the buttermilk mixture. The batter was spooned into buttered muffin tin cups. You don’t want to use muffin tin liners here since the baked muffins will be coated with butter and cinnamon sugar. The muffins baked for about 30 minutes. After cooling for about ten minutes, each muffin was brushed with melted butter and then rolled in cinnamon sugar.

Pumpkin puree seems to work some kind of magic on the texture and flavor of whatever it’s mixed into, and the resulting cake, bread, or muffin always lasts well too. I’ve come to believe that baked goods with pumpkin cannot possibly be bad. Do you have a favorite pumpkin recipe I should try next?