Pumpkin Applesauce Muffins

Seeing as how I have so much pumpkin now, I’ve stockpiled a bunch of different recipes to use it up. It’s kinda awesome having your own pumpkin puree instead of using the canned variety (hooray for saving monies).

The original recipe called for carrot puree, or butternut squash puree, but I don’t see how pumpkin couldn’t substitute it, so here we are. :O The topping is optional (we didn’t bother making it). The recipe is from a book Laura had from long, long ago where it’s basically a bunch of different recipes that sneak all kinds of veggies in (leave it to the dietitian, right? :O ).

Supposedly, this makes 12, but we ended up with 17, due in part to the fact that we thought it would puff up a little more (it did not). We also only had baking powder, since the baking soda we possessed was in the freezer doin’ its thing, so we just subbed the baking soda with baking powder (which is baking soda + cream of tartar). We also didn’t have a full cup of applesauce, so we subbed it with more pumpkin. They turned out pretty awesome–moist, and not too sweet (I kinda hate the word, “moist,” but there is no better way to describe it).

Pumpkin Applesauce Muffins

We didn’t have toothpicks so we did a fork test instead.

Ingredients:
(Topping)
-2/3 cup old-fashioned oats
-¼ cup firmly packed light/dark brown sugar
-1 tsp cinnamon
-2 tbsp margarine spread
(Batter)
-1½ cups whole wheat flour
-1 cup old-fashioned oats
-2 tsp baking powder
-½ tsp cinnamon
-1 cup unsweetened applesauce
-½ cup soy milk
-¼ cup pumpkin puree
-1 large egg
-¼ cup vegetable or canola oil

Instructions:
1) Preheat oven to 400F. Coat 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray or line with paper baking cups.
2) To make the topping, stir together the oats, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Stir in the margarine.
3) To make the batter, combine the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl or zipper-lock bag and stir/shake to mix. In second bowl, mix applesauce with milk, veggie puree, sugar, oil and egg with wooden spoon. Add flour mixture slowly, stirring until just moistened. Don’t overmix—batter’s supposed to be lumpy.
4) Divide batter evenly among muffin cups and sprinkle with streusel topping. Bake until topping is lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the muffins (18-20 minutes). Serve warm or cool.