Pumpkin Puffins

Pumpkin Puffins

In these times of economic gloom and doom, living below our means has been a major factor in all my domestic choices. I cook chicken and sotong instead of beef and prawns, eggs and tofu instead of fancy cheese and imported stuff.

And when it comes to baking, I've been trying to do it without butter, which costs 10 bucks(!) a stick here.

I've been baking up a frenzy, making my coconut hot milk sponge and a coffee-scented one previously. Then I came across the recipe that inspired this one, the Banana Wacky Cake by Saffron Trail.

I had to try it, but since I was reluctant to buy a bunch of bananas when the recipe only called for one, and I like this flavour better, I made a pumpkin version. I also wanted to up its protein content as I intended to take these to work for breakfast, so I used milk and peanuts. I added some grated ginger too, and I think some cinnamon and nutmeg would be nice as well. These babies came out moist, dense and filling, with a texture like a bread-and-butter pudding more like a pudding-like muffin than a cake, hence the name, a cross between pudding and muffin and all in all, one hearty breakfast.

Debbie's Pumpkin Puffins

1 cup flour
1/2 c cup ground peanuts (whiz in the food processor)
About 2 1/2 cup-sized chunks of pumpkin, microwaved 10 minutes on high with a sprinke of water then peel of the skin2 tbsps oil
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar plus 2 tablespoons
1/2 cup milk1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 170 degC
In the food processor/blender, whiz the soft pumpkin chunks with the milk.
Sift the flour+baking powder into a bowl.Add sugar, stir to combine.Add the pumpkin+milk+oil, stir to combine (just so).
Stir in the roasted peanuts (salted ones give a nice flavour contrast)
Pile into muffin trays (they don't rise much, so you can pile 'em high)
Bake for 30 minutes until the tops are golden brown and the insides are not sticky anymore.