Delicious Fall Recipe

I love the fall season. It is my favorite time of year, the leaves are turning colors, the air is crisp, and I love to curl up with a good book and cup of tea. So earlier this month I was looking for a great recipe to make for a get together. Since I like to cook healthy I was looking for something with few ingredients and one the ingredients had to be pumpkin. I happened to stumble across a pumpkin-spice muffin on Nature Box, which is a great place to search for delicious healthy food ideas. So I took their recipe and modified it a bit. The ingredient list is very small:

• 1 banana, mashed
• 1. 5 15oz cans pumpkin 
• 1/4 cup maple syrup or honey
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cup organic whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda 
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1.5 tsp cinnamon
• 1.5 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 cup chopped pecans- caramelized with Earth Balance vegan butter and maple syrup

So I tried the original recipe out earlier in the week and tested it out on my co-workers. (The original recipe called for chocolate chips, I didn’t add them to the mix just placed a few on top of the muffins)  My co-workers loved the muffins, I did too but thought they could be more pumpkin-y. So when I made them for the get together with my friends I used 1.5 cans of the 15oz pumpkin and did 1.5 tsp of cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice. Below are directions for cooking the pumpkin spice muffins as well as caramelizing the chopped pecans.  

Directions:

• Heat oven to 375 degrees. Mash banana in medium bowl, then stir in pumpkin, maple syrup, and vanilla to combine.
• In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients, then add to the wet ingredients and mix well. I used my hand mixer to mix the wet ingredients into the dry.
• Stir in caramelized pecans, if using. 
• I sprayed the silicon muffin pan with some olive oil before adding the batter. I filled the muffin pan almost to the top and bake for about 20-22 minutes until centers are firm.

To caramelize the pecans I put 1 T of Earth Balance Vegan Buttery sticks into a small sauce pan with 2 T of maple syrup and a drizzle of of agave nectar. Heat these items on medium heat until the ingredients come together and bubble.  Add 1C chopped pecans to the pan and stir to coat the pecans. Continue to stir the pecans until they toast up nicely-be careful this can happen fast. The pecans will smell toasty when they are done. Remove from heat and put the caramelized nuts on parchment paper or wax paper to cool.  

They were a big hit this morning. Even though we are in Hawaii there are a few of us who miss the changing seasons and to enjoy delicious pumpkin muffins without being bundled up is pretty nice. Happy Fall!

PS. I usually take the left over pumpkin add cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and a bit of agave nectar, stir it up and microwave it for about a minute or so until warm. It's like eating pumpkin pie without the crust!  Yum!