I love September. I love seeing bins of fresh pumpkins at the market. The pumpkins remind me that we’re in the midst of the Jewish holidays, which signal a new year and new beginnings, so that even while the trees will soon be bare and it will get cold and snowy and nighttime will come more quickly and the long sunshiny days of summer are ending, there’s a new harvest, a new season. Life continues and thrives and I know that in Connecticut, where I live, we will soon see nature’s spectacular colors along the roads, fields and highways.
In case I wasn’t clear —I love this time of year.
I also love using fresh pumpkin for recipes. Ravioli filling. Soup. Sauce. Pie. Cake. Quickbread. Even ice cream.
This is my latest pumpkin special: muffins that are perfect for Sukkot as breakfast (or snack) or to tote to a Sukkah to eat with dinner. I add raisins but you can leave them out or substitute any dried fruit or chopped nuts.
P.S. These muffins would also be a nice treat for Thanksgiving dinner.
Pumpkin Raisin Muffins
3/4 cup pumpkin puree (canned is fine; NOT pumpkin pie mix)
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup milk (non-dairy or dairy)
2 large eggs
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon grated fresh nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup raisins (or use dried cranberries or chopped nuts)
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease 10 muffin tin cups. Combine the pumpkin puree, sugar, vegetable oil and milk in a large bowl and whisk the ingredients for 1-2 minutes or until thoroughly blended. Whisk in the eggs. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves and add them to the pumpkin mixture. Whisk the ingredients for 1-2 minutes or until thoroughly blended. Fold in the raisins. Spoon equal amounts of the batter into the prepared cups. Bake for about 15 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean.
Makes 10 muffins