Winter Squash Muffins

You can use any winter squash in this recipe. I used butternut here. To prepare the puree, cut open and bake squash pieces at 350-degrees, face-down, on a lightly greased baking sheet for about an hour and a half. Scoop out pulp and mash. Butternut is truly my favorite of all the winter squash. You can get three to four cups of puree out of an average butternut squash and it has a relatively small seed pocket. There’s a lot of squash flesh for its size. I haven’t grown any before (this one came free from the farmers market), but I want to grow my own next year. If you want to save seeds for future planting, rinse seeds in a bowl of cool water. Sort out the seeds. I use my fingers to take them out of the rinse water, pulling off any clinging pulp. I pat the seeds dry on a paper towel then spread them out to dry on waxed paper. Let dry thoroughly. You can store the seeds in an envelope in a cool, dark spot till next year. And have all the butternut squash you want. (And don’t you want a lot? I do!)

Attribution Link

Difficulty: Easy

Servings: 16

Prep Time: 10 minutes   Cook Time: 25-30 minutes  

Ingredients

1 cup winter squash, cooked and mashed
3 eggs
1/3 cup oil
1/4 cup light corn syrup
2 cups homemade baking mix
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 tablespoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon mace
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup finely chopped/crushed pecans
1/4 cup rum
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

You can find my homemade baking mix here: Quick Mix.

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease muffin pan or use papers. Place raisins and pecans in a small saucepan with rum and vanilla. Bring to a boil then turn off heat, cover, and let sit while preparing the muffin batter. (If you prefer, you can soak the raisins in plain water or some other concoction of your choice, and you don’t have to soak the nuts at all. Do what you want.) Mix squash, eggs, oil and corn syrup in a large bowl.

Add two cups baking mix and cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and mace.

In go the raisins and pecans. Spoon batter into muffin cups. I fill the cups almost to the top.

Bake at 350-degrees for 25-30 minutes, till lightly browned on top. Turn out onto a wire rack. Melt a little bit of butter and drizzle on top of the baked muffins. Sprinkle with turbinado sugar.

These are such moist muffins, you can eat them without adding anything. Or add some butter if you want. Better yet, cut one open and pour some maple syrup on top. You’ll think you died and went to heaven.

These are my new favorite muffins. At least until the next muffins. I love muffins!

*Makes 16 regular-sized muffins.

Categories: Breads, Breakfast, Muffins

Submitted by: suzanne-mcminn on July 24, 2010