These use the same batter as my pumpkin bread, which is what I intended to make, but since I didn’t get it done yesterday as I had planned but still wanted to eat pumpkin bread for breakfast, it ended up in the form of muffins. The beauty of it is the recipe makes two loaves of bread so I made one loaf and one tray of muffins. As I was getting some pumpkin out of the fridge I came across the maple butter I had made a couple weeks ago and thought, hmmm, I bet that would go nicely with these. So I put a dollop on each muffin before baking them and it did turn out rather nicely. I had envisioned the muffins rising up over the top and having this gooey mess in the middle but rather the butter just oozed all over and down in a little and formed this caramelized layer all around the muffins and they keep calling my name and wanting me to eat them. Then as I was cleaning up I found the vanilla sauce I also made a couple weeks ago and thought, that would probably go nicely on top.....

Ingredients for the Muffins

2 1/2 cups flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 cups granulated sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 cup oil

4 eggs

2/3 cup water

2 cups pumpkin

chopped pecans (optional)

For the Maple Butter

3/4 cup unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
3-4 tablespoons pumpkin puree
1-2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg

Preparation Instructions for Maple Butter

Melt butter in a skillet over low heat. Stir in remaining ingredients, whisking until smooth and sugar dissolves. If you can, make it in advance and put it in the fridge so it can partially solidify.

Preparation Instructions for the Muffins

Preheat the oven to 350º. Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray.

In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer combine, both flours, sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon, stir to combine. Mix in the oil, water, eggs and pumpkin and stir, scraping down the sides until smooth. Add the nuts if you want to (I didn’t because I knew Christian would be eating them and I know he doesn’t have a nut allergy since he has a knack for finding things with nuts in them and eating them, but I kind of have a thing about choking. It makes me nervous.) Scoop the batter into each muffin tin so they are about 3/4 of the way full. Spoon about two teaspoons worth of the maple butter into the center of each muffin. Bake about 15 minutes. Allow to cool for a few minutes in the tray, then run a knife around the edges and remove from tray to cool or to eat.