Morning tea

Decaf green tea with lemongrass, a pumpkin muffin, a shiny silver spoon, and a pretty teacup. It's a slate-gray and gloomy sort of day, so this morning I had to sit in the pollen-yellow kitchen with the cheery tablecloth, and spend at least a few minutes pretending the day was brighter.

And about the pumpkin muffin. You may remember that my Thanksgiving centerpiece was a hollowed-out pumpkin with stew inside. And after the stew was eaten, did I heave the pumpkin onto the compost pile and leave it to deflate like a beach ball? No, I did not. I scooped out the flesh, about six cups' worth, and stashed it in the freezer.

Now. Are you as familiar with the ordinary pumpkin bread or pumpkin muffins recipe as I am? Usually, it calls for some miniscule amount of pumpkin. A quarter cup, say. Given that I did not want to wait until 2020 to be rid of my pumpkin, I devised a recipe that actually features pumpkin. Lots of it. Here it is.

Pumpkin Muffins (or bread)

1 1/2 all purpose flour
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup raisins
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 ground cloves

2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup milk
1 tbsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups mashed cooked pumpkin

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray one muffin pan, and either a mini loaf pan or a few cups on
an additional muffin pan, with cooking spray.
Combine dry ingredients together in a large bowl, and mix. In a separate smaller bowl, combine all the wet ingredients. Fold the pumpkin into the wet ingredients. You might want to use a potato masher for this; I find it helps to break up the pumpkin chunks. Gently add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, mixing until just moistened. Fill each muffin cup about 3/4 full, then scrape the excess into your loaf pan or more muffin cups.
Bake about 20 minutes, until puffed and lightly browned on top.

If you close your eyes, these taste just like pumpkin pie. Enjoy!