Empty Shelves Pumpkin Muffins

I wanted to make muffins and my recipe had eggs and milk in it. I went to the store and there were no eggs and no milk. So I looked around for some substitutes—using applesauce and oil in place of eggs and milk and created a delicious vegan muffin. No one could tell the difference!

My grandmother used to tell me that anyone can be a good cook when she has all the ingredients. It’s when she doesn’t have all the ingredients, then her ability is determined! I think I lived up to her idea of a good cook with this recipe. See recipe below.

Foodie Lit

Review and Recipe

Author Holly Bush told me, “Almost all of my books begin with a person traveling to a new place. It doesn’t really matter, I don’t think, whether you are going from farm to city or from city to farm. Those kind of lifestyle changes could be just as dramatic then as they can be today. New people and habits and sometimes a new way of looking at things can be the making of us. It was the making of Olive.”

Strong men and women, romance and heartbreak make Romancing Olive a frontier novel worth reading.

Olive's Peach Cobbler is the perfect recipe for this frontier romance.

Emplty Shelves Pumpkin Muffins

Yield 12 muffins

2 cups flour

¾ cup sugar

2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

¾ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon nutmeg

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 cup apple sauce

4 cups pureed pumpkin

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup raisins, golden or dark

¼ cup brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 F.
In a large mixing bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Add vegetable oil, apple sauce, pureed pumpkin and vanilla extract. Mix well. Add raisins.
Place muffin papers in muffin tins. Spoon about 1 ½ tablespoons batter into each tin, to ¾ full. Sprinkle a bit of brown sugar on top.
Bake for 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean and the muffins are browned on top.

Expandthetable suggestions

Diabetic muffins: Use 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon Stevia in place of sugar in recipe. Use ¼ cup Brown Sugar Stevia for topping.

Add more fiber: Use 1 cup all purpose flour and 1 cup white whole wheat or whole wheat flour.

Make it Nutty: Add ½ cup chopped pecans or walnuts to batter.

Toppings: Add mixed seeds of choice

Acorn or butternut squash: Use equal amounts in place of pumpkin.

Dried Fruit: Use other dried fruit, such as cranberries, dates or figs