Pumpkin Muffins

This recipe was inspired by the recipe for Kathleen's Pumpkin Bread in Bakin' Without Eggs. Decreasing the sugar and substituting whole wheat for part of the flour improves the nutrition profile. Making muffins is faster than a loaf of bread and results in food that's more portable for sending as my son's afternoon snack to Preschool.

Pumpkin Muffins

1 Cup whole wheat flour
1 1/4 Cups all purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 generous teaspoon pie spice (or cinnamon plus a dash of nutmeg and ground ginger)
1/2 Cup milk
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon greek yogurt
1/4 Cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Cup sugar
1 can pumpkin puree
handful dried tart cherries (chopping them up is optional)

Preheat oven to 375 and oil tin for 12 muffins.

In a large bowl, whisk together the milk and vinegar. Whisk in the yogurt.
Whisk in the oil, sugar and vanilla. Add the pumpkin and combine well.

In a separate bowl combine the flours, baking powder and spices.

Stir the dry ingredients into the wet. Begin to combine.
When it's almost evenly mixed, add the dried cherries and stir to incorporate.

The dough should be pretty thick. If it's too thick to stir in the cherries then you can add a small splash of milk or water.

Spoon into muffin tins.

Bake 20-25 minutes.

Cool 10 minutes in pan. Then the muffins to cool completely on a a wire rack.

Variations:

This tastes just fine with raisins or craisins if you don't have dried cherries on hand. Or for less sweet you can omit the fruit altogether.

This dough is sturdy enough to also hold up to a cup of chopped walnuts to make it heartier.

Alternatively, for some crunch without the fat of added nuts, you can substitute 1/4 raw millet to replace part of the all-purpose flour. My son especially loves this variation.

For liquid, you can mix it up a little depending on what you have in your fridge. If you have buttermilk, you can use that in lieu of the milk, cider and yogurt (I just don't always have buttermilk). Or you can sourcream in lieu of the milk and yogurt. It works with various of those combinations. What you want is a slightly thick, slightly tangy liquid with a little acidity.