Kids Make Pumpkin Muffins

In my experience, the more ingredients, the better the muffin. That must be what makes these pumpkin muffins so good: two different kinds of flour, two different kinds of sugar, three different spices, buttermilk, ricotta cheese, vanilla.

What's not to like?

Pumpkin muffins proved to be the perfect antidote to all the pickling we've been doing in our food appreciation classes. Assembling these muffins required everyone's attention. Eating them was great fun. This recipe calls for making the muffins in a standard sized muffin tin. But I could easily see using a mini-muffin tin and having these ready as treats for Halloween.


My one reservation about the recipe is the use of granulated and brown sugars. I would love to know how to covert this into another kind of sweeterner, say apple sauce and apple juice, or perhaps even some orange juice. Any tips on conversions would be appreciated.

For a more adult muffin with a little kick, you might add a pinch of cayenne.

To make 12 standard muffins:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon each: ground nutmeg, ground cinnamon, ground ginger

1/3 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup milk

2 tablespoons canola oil

1/3 cup ricotta cheese

1 large egg plus 1 egg white

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons pumpkin puree

Pumpkin seeds



Preheat oven to 375 degrees.



In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugars, salt, baking powder, baking soda, spices. Whisk together well.

In a second bowl, whisk together buttermilk, milk, canola oil, ricotta cheese, egg and egg white, vanilla, pumpkin puree. Beat until smooth.

Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and gently stir until wet and dry are fully combined. Do not overmix.

Spoon batter in greased muffin tin. Scatter some pumpkin seeds over each muffin and pat lightly into dough. Place in oven and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Allow muffins to cool in tin about 10 minutes before removing.