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Happy Halloween everyone!  I heart pumpkin season.  You’ve got pumpkin seeds, pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin custard…sorry, now I’m sounding like Bubba in Forrest Gump, rambling on about shrimp.  Anyways, you get the idea.

This recipe is something I whipped up on the fly, a dump-and-stir sort of method that works pretty well, as long as you don’t overmix the batter.  Overmixing eliminates air bubbles that make your batter rise, so when you bake it, you’ll get one tough muffin.  Not a good thing.  Just be gentle!  Pumpkin is such a great ingredient to use if you want to cut the fat while adding a lot of moisture to baked goods; I only used 2 1/2 tablespoons of canola oil in this batch of 18 muffins!  The crumb of the muffin turned out tender and moist – perfect to heat up and snack on with my coffee at work!

Pumpkin has a good amount of beta-carotene, an antioxidant that converts into vitamin A in the body.  Beta-carotene is also a carotenoid, which imparts that yellow/red/orange pigment to the veggie.

Word to the wise: If you’re someone who believes that popping supplements up the wall while eating a poor diet will “make up” for the nutrients you’re not getting in your daily fast food encounters, beware.  Beta-carotene, in supplement form, has been found to increase coronary event and lung cancer risk in male smokers and asbestos workers.  Ingestion of food sources of beta-carotene, however, is safe, and the synergistic effects of beta-carotene in food, along with other phytonutrients and carotenoids, can decrease one’s risk of developing cancer.  Beta-carotene from foods can also enhance your immunity.  Bottom line: get it from food first, and keep chomping on those fresh fruits and veggies!

Pumpkin-Walnut Muffins

makes 18

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup whole-wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/2 tsp Saigon cinnamon

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 1/4 cup canned pumpkin puree

6 oz lowfat plain yogurt

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/2 Tbsp canola oil

1/3 cup chopped walnuts

18 whole lightly candied walnuts, optional, for garnish

Preparation:

1.  Preheat your oven to 350°F.  In a medium bowl, combine the flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt, pumpkin pie spice, and cinnamon.  Whisk ingredients until combined and set aside.

2.  In a large bowl, add the brown sugar, granulated sugar, maple syrup, pumpkin puree, yogurt, egg, vanilla extract, and canola oil.  Whisk until ingredients are smooth and there are no lumps.  Add the flour mixture, and fold the flour mixture in to the pumpkin batter, until ingredients are just combined.  DO NOT OVERMIX.  It’s okay to have a few little lumps in the batter.  Gently fold in the walnuts.  Spoon the batter into the muffin liners, just shy of being filled to the top.

3.  Bake on two baking sheets, one on the middle rack and one on the top rack.  After 13 minutes, rotate the racks and alternate their positions.  Bake for another 12-13 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the muffins comes out clean.  Cool on wire racks for about 15 minutes before serving.

Nutrition Facts (1 serving = 1 muffin, minus the walnut garnish on top): 137 calories; 4 grams fat (0.6 grams saturated fat, 2 grams polyunsaturated fat, 1.2 grams monounsaturated fat); 23 grams carbohydrates; 2.7 grams protein; 1.2 grams fiber