Cinnamon Pumpkin Muffins

Today's blog was going to be about beets. Yup, a nice healthy salad with oven-roasted beets fresh from the garden. But when I told my mother my idea for the salad, she wrinkled up her nose like a Shar Pei. Nothing like enthusiasm to motivate a person. So, I took the hint, and baked something not quite decadent and very seasonal. These muffins are almost healthy because they contain pumpkin.

I have to admit that I love these muffins. They're so light! And they're just as good warm as they are cold. You can whip them up in minutes for overnight guests or just for fun on a brisk fall morning. The tops crinkle up a little bit because of the cinnamon swirl in them. No matter, that crinkly look is rewarding when you bite into a bit of sweetness.

This recipe was in MURDER, SHE BARKED. My Wagtail books always come out in December, so the season is a little bit off for books set in the fall. 

In the first book, Holly Miller visits the family inn on Wagtail Mountain where an employee has been murdered. The second book, THE GHOST AND MRS. MEWER, takes place a mere month later when Holly returns to move into the inn. She hasn't even unpacked her belongings when the Apparition Apprehender ghost hunting team arrives and trouble follows them!

Sweet Dog Barkery Cinnamon-Pumpkin Muffins

Makes 12 muffins.

1 ½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 eggs
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup dark brown sugar, packed
¼ cup regular sugar
¾ cup canned pumpkin

SWIRL

½ cup dark brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350. Fill cupcake pan with liners.

Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon in a bowl and stir with a fork to mix. Set aside.

Whisk the eggs, and add the vegetable oil, ½ cup dark brown sugar, the regular sugar, and the pumpkin. Blend well. Dump in the flour mixture and mix with a spoon until just blended. Do not overmix.

In a separate bowl, combine the ½ cup dark brown sugar with the 2 teaspoons of cinnamon.

Fill the liners almost full. Add 1 teaspoon or so of the cinnamon-sugar swirl mixture to the top of each muffin. Using a cake tester or bamboo skewer, sweep through the muffin to mix the cinnamon into them.

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

They look a little goofy but don't worry . . .

. . . because they bake up like this!