Pumpkin Yumkins

The chicken or the egg.  The pumpkin or the seed.  The Starbucks pumpkin muffin or the Pastry Queen pumpkin yumkins.  Yikes!  I'm trying to figure out which came first!  Let me backtrack a little.  See, I'm not a terribly big fan of the pumpkin (with apologies to all who are.)  But the Monarch is.  So, I am now assiduously seeking out all recipes pumpkin in the hopes that I will a) realize what I've been missing all this time, b) keep the Monarch knee-deep in pumpkin goodness, c) find a reason to use those cans of pumpkin puree which I bought on sale, you know, just in case there was a pumpkin shortage and d) find a reason to start my own pumpkin patch next year (more on this year's foray into vegetable gardening another time).  So, in the spirit of keeping a pumpkin open-mind, I decided to try one of Starbuck's pumpkin muffins.  And it was......AWESOME!  With the taste buds now on board, my mind went into reverse engineering mode.  How could I make such a muffin at home?  My check-list began.  Method: quick bread (read: stir wet ingredients into dry).  Components: all things pumpkin-y and muffin-y (read: pumpkin, seeds, spices, flour, sugar, baking powder).  Recipe: ummmm.  Then I remembered.  Pumpkin yumkins, this week's choice from Project Pastry Queen bore quite a resemblance to these muffins.  So, off I went.

Here's what it looked like:

Um, you know the step where you spoon the batter into the muffin tins?  Well, my little nephew was over while I was making these and he decided that he's like to try his little hand at photography.  So, let's just pretend that the picture is sitting in this spot...

 

This inspired choice was by Amanda of Fake Ginger fame.  You'll find this Pastry Queen Project recipe on her site.  Stay tuned next week for yet more pumpkin goodness.