MINI PUMPKIN MUFFINS WITH CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

My little granddaughter, Hope, loves her pumpkin bread!  She turned one year old last October and she had a "Our Little Pumpkin Is Turning One" themed birthday party.  I made these little mini pumpkin muffins because, I mean how perfect....she loves pumpkin muffins and she is a little "mini" herself.  She lovvvved them!  I actually substituted sweet potato this past week for the pumpkin and she loved them just as much.

My daughter Holly and her sweet baby, Hope.

I found this recipe for pumpkin muffins while going through some old recipes of my Mom's. I think what caught my eye was first...that it won 2nd place in a contest and the second thing that caught my eye was all of the different spices!  Yummm!  It almost seemed like too many spices but after tasting it, it is apparent that they all work together perfectly and make each bite super duper flavorful.  Definitely deserving of an award in my books.  The original recipe called for 1 cup of vegetable oil and 3 cups of sugar.  I felt like 3 cups of sugar was just too much so I backed it down to 2 cups.  I cannot imagine having another cup in this recipe because 2 is just right....sweet but not too sweet.  Then I read that you could use coconut oil in place of the vegetable oil in recipes.  I knew that would be much healthier so I replaced half of the oil with the coconut oil.  I may use only coconut oil next time.  It was so moist.

Fast forward to this past week, I was keeping both Hope and her brother Alex for a few days.  I baked a few sweet potatoes for dinner one night and the only person who ate any was me....so I had like 3 potatoes left.  I hated to just stick them in the fridge because in my house, that is where good food goes to die.  Wahhh!!! I hate to say that but you have to be able to admit you have a problem before you can fix it...right?  Okay getting back on the subject.  I had three sweet potatoes left.  I thought of my pumpkin muffin recipe and the two worlds collided....sweet potato muffins! I didn't even put any frosting on them and Hope and Alex both loved them.  So much so that I had to cut them off.  They wanted them for snacks, breakfast, dessert...pretty much all day.  They are low in sugar but not sugar free guys...gotta pace yourselves. LoL!

Hope you like them like Hope and Alex do!

MINI PUMPKIN MUFFINS WITH CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

2 cups Pumpkin Puree 
 4 eggs
1/2 cup Coconut Oil, (melted and cooled)
1/2 cup Canola Oil
2/3 cup Milk
2 cups of Sugar
3-1/2 cups Flour
2 teaspoons Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
1 teaspoon Ground Cloves
1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
1 teaspoon Ground Ginger
1 teaspoon Ground Allspice

Preheat 350 Degrees

In a large bowl, mix the first 5 ingredients until well blended.

In a separate bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients.

Add 1 cup of the dry ingredients at a time, to the wet, continuing until everything is blended together.

Fill mini muffin cups to just above half full.

Bake for 13-15 minutes or until center springs back when touched.

Makes approximately 8 dozen miniature muffins.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:

4 ounces Cream Cheese
4 ounces Butter
2 cups Powdered Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla

Beat the cream cheese and the butter together in a large mixing bowl.
Add the powdered sugar slowly to the cream cheese/butter mixture on low speed of mixer.
Add the Vanilla and mix until well blended.

Place the frosting in a gallon size ziploc bag.  

Snip a very small piece off of one corner of the bag.

Squeeze the icing onto the cooled muffins in a circular design.

ENJOY!

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BANANA MUFFINS WITH MASCARPONE CHEESE FROSTING

These little muffins have been pleasing my family for several years now!  These little bites of bliss are my daugher, Holly's, very favorite breakfast, snack, dinner, supper...hahaha (takes after her momma)!!

Natalie Roebuck Benz baked these and brought them over when my mother in law passed away a few years ago.  I literally hid some in the back of the refrigerator so no one else could eat them...not my best moment! Ha!  A girls gotta do what a girls gotta do : )  They were so delicious and moist and the frosting was different than most because the sweetener was honey.  I have made these over and over again and they rarely last more than one day.  It is a recipe by Giada...which explains why it is a great recipe!

I shared them just the other day with my son-in-laws family who has had a family member in the hospital for several days.  They make about 24 muffins and can be eaten as breakfast, snack or dessert which makes them a great recipe to bake and share.  Another reason that this is a good go-to recipe is that they are good frosted or unfrosted.  In fact, when I brought them to the hospital, I left half frosted and the other half unfrosted.

I usually put them in the fridge after one day.  They last longer and it is easy to take them out, pop them in the microwave for a few seconds and enjoy for more than one day (that is if they last that long...just hide them like I do...works like a charm)!

I love the taste of freshly grated nutmeg in recipes and it is very easy and fast to do it.  If you do not have one of these microplane graters...I would definitely recommend investing in one.  It not only makes grating nutmeg a snap, but cheese, lemon or lime peel or garlic too...just watch those fingertips!

Another item I used this time was this Vietnamese Saigon Cinnamon.  I bought it at the Nutcracker Christmas Market last November.   It is supposed to have a higher oil content which makes it more aromatic and is supposed to be sweeter. But, do I think I will run out and search high and low for it when it runs out?

Neh...when it runs out I probably will just go back to my trusty, local grocery store and buy a name brand.  I have used it several times and have had great results so I just thought I would share.

  

Another thing that makes my cooking life a little easier is using a scoop to fill my muffin cups.  Excuse my muffin/cucake pan...it has been used a few times!  I will say I like this stoneware dish the best when it comes to getting the muffin/cupcakes cooked but not overly brown, which is the way I like them. 

 

BANANA MUFFINS 
WITH 
MASCARPONE CHEESE FROSTING

3 cups all-purpose Flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil (canola is what I use)
3 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 ripe bananas, peeled and coarsely mashed

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Line 18-24 muffins cups with cupcake liners.

Whisk the flour, soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg in a medium bowl to blend.

Beat the sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla in a large bowl until well blended.  Stir in the mashed bananas. Add the dry ingredients and stir just until blended.

Divide the batter between the cups and bake on the middle rack until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean...approximately 25 minutes.  I start checking at about 20 minutes.

Transfer to a cooling rack.

These muffins can be eaten warm or cooled and frosted.

FROSTING
3 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
6 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1/3 cup mascarpone cheese, room temperature
3 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup toasted, chopped walnuts, (or pecans) (you do not have to toast them)

Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter in a large bowl until light and fluffy.  Beat in the mascarpone and then the honey.  Spread the frosting on the muffins and sprinkle with the walnuts or pecans.

I did not toast the pecans on these!

ENJOY!

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