Pumpkin Muffins

Better late than never!  Finally managed to get to an internet cafe with the computer working, hurrah!

I bet the pumpkin carving has already mostly been done, but I will give you this delicious recipe anyway!  It's a great way to make your Halloween pumpkin useful as well as beautiful.  I hate the idea of paying for something and then chucking it in the bin without any more use than a bit of decoration for a few days and it's such a waste of such a delicious vegetable.  You can use pumpkin in soup, but here is something a bit more exciting to do with it!

Remove the seeds from the pumpkin.

You can chop them up and feed them to your chickens, they are a bit of a chickeny superfood.  If you don't have chickens you can wash the seeds, toast them in the oven, peel off the white shells and eat the seeds inside which are delicious and a humany superfood too.  You could also plant them into pots of compost to grow your very own pumpkins next year!

Use a spoon to scrape the flesh from the inside of the pumpkin - you can scrape as much or as little as you want.

Place the scrapings in a pan with a splash of water and simmer gently until soft and pulpy.

(Makes about 20 muffins...you might want to do half quantities!)

1 1/2 cup (15oz/375g) cooked pumpkin

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups (360ml) milk

3/4 cup (60ml) oil

1 1/2 cup (13 1/2 oz 335g) sugar

4 1/2 cups (1lb 3oz/560g) plain flour

2 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tbsp ground nutmeg

Optional - 1 1/2 cups raisins, 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, milk, oil and sugar until frothy.

Add the other ingredients and fold in carefully until well incorporated.

Spoon the batter into cake cases or silicone moulds, filling to about 3/4.  You can sprinkle the tops with a pinch of brown sugar and cinnamon if you want, then bake for 12-15 mins at 180C/gas mark 4 until pale golden brown.  Cool on a wire rack.

Quickly sneak one and eat it hot while no one is looking.

Carry on with the pumpkin carving.

How about wrapping each muffin in a twist of greaseproof paper and handing out to trick or treaters instead of shop bought, sugary, e-numbery treats?!