Tomorrow I’m going to be an uncle. My sister’s scheduled for delivery at 7:30. I keep waking up and checking the time, thinking I slept through the weekend and it’s Monday so soon. On Thursday I took her pregnancy photos, I stayed for an hour and we talked about our own childhood and the brother we both don’t call. On Friday I looked at jewelry for her, trying to put a thousand moods into one small necklace. On Saturday I stayed busy, idle hands and all that. I walked Milo, bought books on farming, went to the vet for the dogs’ pills.
And now it’s Sunday and I’m wasting time. I woke up at dawn and fed the animals. I sat with a cup of hot, hot coffee and sprinkled cinnamon in it. I made these muffins to greet the morning, anything to fill the space between now and when Lana comes into the world.
Pumpkin Tahini Muffins
I know the ingredient list seems long, but it's mostly spices! For airy, crumbly muffins, I would suggest following the directions closely and not dump them all in at once. Also, if you are making regular-sized muffins, there are adjustment notes below as well. Happy baking!!
Ingredients:
- 2 ½ cup AP flour
- ½ TB cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 TB cornstarch
- 10 oz pumpkin puree
- 1/3 cup tahini
- 2 TB dark molasses
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 TB freshly grated ginger
- 1 TB pure vanilla extract
- 6 TB butter, softened
- 1 ½ cup dark brown sugar
- 3 eggs, room temperature
- 3 TB cream cheese, softened
- 2 TB confectioner’s sugar
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 400*F and prepare 6 jumbo muffin tins with liners (you may also use a dozen regular-sized muffin, but see note below)
- Sift together flour, spices, salt, soda, and cornstarch in a large mixing bowl
- In a measuring cup, whisk together pumpkin, tahini, molasses, oil, ginger, and vanilla until well-mixed
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy
- Add egg, one at a time. Don’t add subsequent egg until previous is fully incorporated
- With mixer on lowest speed, alternate between flour mixture and pumpkin mixture, ending with wet ingredients until a batter forms
- In a separate bowl, mix together cream cheese and confectioner’s sugar (just with a fork is fine), set aside
- Using an ice cream scoop, scoop batter into all 6 liners
- Now, pinch off about ½ TB of your cream cheese and place on top of all 6 batter-filled cups
- Top with another scoop of batter (your cup should be about full but not over flowing)
- Bake for 28-32 minutes, checking at the 28 mark for any browning
- Remove from oven, allow to cool before serving
Note: If using a regular-sized muffin tin, you will make the following adjustments to the recipe: You will divide the cream cheese by ¼ of a tablespoon instead of a half; you will have one scoop of batter in each muffin cup and not two; your bake time will be reduced to approximately 16-18 minutes instead of 28-32
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