TWD: Mini Pumpkin Muffins

Aww, don't they look so cute and wee? (And isn't wee such a wonderful word?) Such adorable little bites of fall, chock full of raisins and nuts and seeds and pumpkin. Given that I've been on a pumpkin baking binge, these came at just the right time - I consistently have pumpkin in my pantry during October-December. Although a friend (rather impertinently, in my opinion) mentioned that pumpkin puree did exist outside of those three months and that I didn't need to fit all of my pumpkin baking and enjoyment into one span of time. Bah, what's the fun in that? I look forward to pumpkin pies, pumpkin cakes, pumpkin soups all year long!


The only problem? Well, I had to bake these at the boyfriend's. And he has no baking pans. At least, no fun ones. And definitely no muffin pans. Oh yeah, and there's no way that he has raisins, nuts, sunflower seeds, and various fall-like spices in his pantry, let alone pumpkin puree. Lucky for me, he was willing to go out with a shopping list of things I needed to bake in the couple of days I was there (I have priorities people). So I brought my pan (and electric mixer and various other ingredients) and showed up at his apartment, which had a stack of ingredients on his kitchen table for me. Aren't I just the luckiest? (And am I weird for having hauled my stand mixer 1.75 hrs away just so I could make bread?)


Consider that I wasn't even going to be giving him any of these, and I think you'd agree that he went above and beyond the call of duty. I was going to pack them away and take them into work for the operators who have been entertaining me these past few weeks on night shift. There's nothing like mini pumpkin muffins to make a night go faster, right? Oh yeah, and one other thing - I sorta kinda maybe took the rest of the pumpkin back with me to make cookies for them too. I know, he's a saint isn't he?


One thing I hadn't considered though was this: one normal sized batch of normal sized muffins? Yeah, guess how many of these cute, wee little suckers I ended up with. 5 dozen. Seriously, it was a mountain of mini muffins. And sprinkling those sunflower seeds on them? That gets a little old when you have to do it 60 times. Well, I forgot on one batch, sosueme. That still makes 48 times (I can do maths so well, can't I?)


So thank you to Kelly of Sounding My Barbaric Gulp (seriously funniest blog name ever) for picking something with which I could ingratiate myself to the ravening hordes out on the plant floor. These were cheaper, tastier, and healthier than the alternative - pizza :)

Last Week: Lenox Almond Biscotti (I swear, I haven't forgotten about the other kinds I made)
Next Week: Chocolate Cupcakes (because Clara would pick something else? the horror!)