As promised: Pumpkin Muffins! And a trip down memory lane at Sarabeth's Kitchen in NYC

This is where part of the other half of the can of pumpkin I used for the pies went. This is muffin number three from the weekend of muffin baking awhile back.

For most of my life, I've eaten and baked my mother's version of pumpkin bread, which has been much modified to suit our family's tastes--less sugar, pine nuts instead of walnuts, no raisins, etc. It's a delicious recipe that reminds me of my childhood, but I haven't tried any other pumpkin bread/muffin recipe in recent memory so I lack a frame of reference to compare it to other recipes. So when I decided I needed to make pumpkin muffins as part of the evacuation plan for the leftover pumpkin puree, I looked around for a new recipe and found this promising recipe in Baking: From my home to yours, which is full of tasty-looking muffin recipes.




This recipe tries to recreate the pumpkin muffins sold by Sarabeth's Kitchen, a famed specialty bakery and restaurant chain in NYC. While I've never had a pumpkin muffin from Sarabeth's, Michael and I did have brunch at one of their restaurants (see above picture) during our historic trip to NYC in Winter 2008. It was quite delicious (probably the best standard breakfast/brunch food we had in New York) but the most expensive brunch ever. He had smoked salmon eggs Benedict and I had the most ethereal lemon ricotta pancakes, and with two cups of coffee, our bill came out as expensive as most of our dinners in NYC.

Anyways, back to the muffins.

These muffins do live up to the claim of being a clone of a specialty bakery-style muffin. They are fluffy and light and moist at the same time. The spices are complex and stronger than your average muffin/quickbread recipe, and the nuts and raisins give some heartiness to the muffin. Very easy to scarf down with a cup of coffee or tea.




Pumpkin Muffins (adapted from Baking: From my home to yours)

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour (I subbed half with whole wheat pastry flour)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
pinch of ground allspice

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup canned unsweetened pumpkin puree
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup moist, plump raisins (original recipe said to use golden, I used regular, steeped in hot water and drained before using)
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (I used toasted pine nuts instead)

1/3 cup unsalted, raw sunflower seeds or pine nuts, for topping muffins (optional)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare a standard 12-cup muffin pan by greasing or lining with muffin paper cups.

In one bowl whisk together the flour, spices, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until soft. Add sugars and cream until light and smooth. Add the eggs individually, mixing well in between each addition. Mix in vanilla. At a lower speed, mix in pumpkin and buttermilk.

At your lowest mixer speed or by hand with a spatula, add in the dry ingredients. Mix only until dry ingredients are just incorporated. Stir in nuts and raisins.

Divide batter evenly amongst muffin cups and sprinkle a few sunflower seeds or pine nuts on top as a garnish/topping. Bake for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then remove muffins from pan and serve or cool completely on metal rack.