When food bloggers come to visit, they invariably bear food gifts. I love that. When Joanne came to “the country” a few weeks ago, she came with a container full of cupcakes. Not that she needed to win my kids over, but cupcakes are a sure-fire way to make them her besties, no doubt.
The original recipe that she used (from Whole Foods Market) was for Honey Walnut Pumpkin Bread. Dropping the walnuts, subbing olive oil, adding a cream cheese frosting, and making them cupcakes turned them into Honey Pumpkin Cupcakes and little bites of deliciousness. They are utterly and ridiculously moist, and absolutely worth making. And heck, given most of the ingredients, they’re a sweet treat you can feel good about. I can’t say I’m upset that she left a few behind when she headed back to NYC. Now it’s my turn to fill up the container for our next meet-up in October.
*Original recipe is here.
September 27, 2011 – Bonus Photos
Um. Really? I get that whole milk has a little more fat, but I always thought it was better for kids. And not for nothing, if they’re not allowed to sell it, perhaps it (and its sister-cousin 2% milk) shouldn’t be listed as options on the milk form. In my humble opinion, of course.
Came home to this happy little care package courtesy of the folks at Martha Stewart. Can’t wait to dive into it. Glitter paint? Hel-lo!
Ingredients
- Canola oil cooking spray
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
- 1/4 cup oat bran or wheat germ
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons cane sugar
- 1/3 cup canola or sunflower oil (Joanne used olive oil)
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1 1/4 cups fresh or canned pumpkin puree
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup chopped walnuts (Joanne skipped)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch loaf pan with canola oil cooking spray and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, oat bran, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a second large bowl, combine sugar, oil, honey, milk, pumpkin, egg and vanilla. Add this mixture to flour mixture and stir until just combined. Fold in walnuts.
- Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake until cooked through and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool for 15 minutes on a wire rack then remove from pan and set aside to let cool completely.
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I am so sick of stupid rules governing schools. Banning any form of milk is ridiculous. How about we go after the real problems like poorly constructed menus for school lunches? Or what about creating well-rounded educations … not test-score driven ones? Just my two cents.
I bet those cupcakes were amazing.
Schools are incorporating such silly regulations into their school lunches without actually fixing any of the core problems! Makes me super irritated…and I don’t even have kids!
I’m so glad you guys loved the cupcakes! I’m posting about them on Friday :)
I didn’t get a note like that from school yesterday. But, I agree. It’s crazy. They offer Cheeseburgers, hot dogs and Mac & Cheese for lunch!
Yay, another pumpkin recipe to try, thanks to you and Joanne (I’ve started to hoard cans since it looks like there’s going to a shortage again this year). Martha had a gal on Monday that did a DIY on making glitter sneakers (who knew?)–you should do rainbow ones! I’m going to try to find Carolina Blue glitter and make a pair for b-ball season, hee!