Pumpkin muffins

It seems that a few of the blogs I follow and I are on the same wavelength. I had thought of making pumpkin muffins at the same time Frugal Girl and Money Saving Mom posted their recipes. It is not the time of year for fresh pumpkins, but I had a can of pumpkin (gasp! I know, canned goods are not great, but I bought this forever ago with the idea of having J try some pumpkin. If I gave J only foods in season, she wouldn't eat anything right now, but I digress...) in my pantry to use. I wanted to see if maybe, since J can eat sweet potatoes and squashes, she would be able to eat pumpkin. I am trying to increase the number of foods she can eat, but haven't had much luck.

So, anyway, I was on the search for a pumpkin muffin recipe. Muffins are portable and it's something J can carry around the house eating with minimal mess. I also wanted a different option for breakfast besides bagels with sunflower butter because the sunflower butter has added sugar...something I'm sure isn't helping J's cold to go away. I'm trying to phase out the sunbutter and make my own. Until then, these pumpkin muffins saved the day! Here is the original recipe from allrecipes.com:

Ingredients

• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup water
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups raisins
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat sugar, oil, eggs, pumpkin and water. Combine flour, baking powder, soda, spices and salt. Add to pumpkin mixture; blend well. Fold in raisins and walnuts. Spoon into greased muffin tins, filling 3/4 full. Bake at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes.

As you can see, this recipe is not exactly "clean." This is my version, which also was made J-friendly since she was the primary reason I was making these.

• 3/4 cup of a combination of honey and maple syrup
  
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 3 farm fresh eggs
• 1 15 oz can pumpkin
• 1/3 (or so) cup water
• 3 cups whole wheat flour
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon all spice
  
• 3/4 - 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon salt

If I was making these just for myself, I would use Sucanat in place of the sugar, try to up the Omega-3's with some flax seeds, and increase the protein with some wheat germ. Since I know Sucanat doesn't agree with J and I haven't tried the others with her, this was a safe attempt for round #1. She had some yesterday with no stomach upset...hooray! In the fall, I'll look forward to using some fresh sugar pumpkin. Let me know if you give this recipe a try!