Daily Dish - Mini Pumpkin Muffins

Continuing the Halloween theme for the week, my friend Holly over at Indie Home Ec sent me this recipe for mini pumpkin muffins and promised even I wouldn't be able to completely bugger it up.  So, I gave it a shot...

If any of you have been paying attention to what I cook, you may have noticed that baking is not on the list of things that I do (albeit on the list of things I'd like to do better).  I figure most people fall into either the cooking or the baking category.  I'm firmly in the cooking camp seeing as I generally don't measure things, which is really a problem when trying to bake, and my past attempts at baking have been, um, "questionable."

Pumpkin Pie Spice (makes 1 tsp):
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground allspice (or clove)

I think it says enough about my usual baking skills when husband got home from class, walked into the kitchen to find me blending flour-y stuff with pumpkin-y stuff, and the first words out of his mouth are "I can't believe you're baking...and it's not from a box".  As if that wasn't bad enough, while I was happily filling the regular sized muffin cups, I asked him to grab the mini muffin tray from the cabinet.  He says, "you mean this one?  In the wrapper?"  Yes, the one we got as a wedding gift...nearly 4 years ago.

Regardless, 25 minutes later, I had a batch of muffins ready for cooling and tasting.  We both ate one and success!  They were moist, tasty, not deformed (which is more of an accomplishment for me than you might realize) and, as husband pointed out, "at least you didn't burn them".  It has to be said, the recipe is pretty foolproof as the pumpkin keeps everything nice and moist; plus they're not bad for you.  100 calories for 3 mini muffins (or 1 regular sized muffin as an estimate) is almost completely guilt free.  I just wish I'd had a little more granola to sprinkle on top.

I finally baked something from scratch that is worthy of feeding to other people - and even brought some to work.  I'm happy to report that all of my co-workers survived and none of them seem to have called in with food poisoning, so we'll call this one a win!