The Barefoot Kitchen Witch

Squash Muffins

Sure, I could have called them pumpkin muffins, because a pumpkin is, after all, a squash…but these were made from one of our butternut-futsu hybrid squashes, not a pumpkin squash, so I decided to stay accurate.  Or accurate-ish. 

But I digress.

The thing I like best about these muffins, besides how yummy they are, is that the recipe came about because I hadn’t been grocery shopping and I didn’t have some of the things called for in the original recipe. 

So I had to improvise, and it worked!

Oatmeal Corn Muffins

Next time I make these I need to make a double batch.  Or a triple.

My kids (especially Alex) plowed through most of them the first day and I barely managed to pack a couple away for school lunches.

Banana Sweet Potato Muffins

I had one overripe banana.

I had one sweet potato.

I thought they might go nicely together.

Guess what.

They do.

Butternut Squash Muffins with Pecan Crunch Topping

Sure, you could use pumpkin instead.  We just happen to have a basket full of butternut squash from the garden, and I figured I’d use one of them rather than run to the store for a can of pumpkin puree.

I made up the recipe as I went along.  Really.  I used Dorie Greenspan’s Great Grains Muffin recipe as a sort of launching pad, and tweaked it here and there to create this muffin.  These muffins.  There were 14 of them. 

Here’s my recipe....

Peanutbutter Banana Muffins and a Show

I introduced my son to the yumminess of peanutbutter and banana sandwiches years ago.  I've been on a muffin-baking kick lately, and I figured the peanutbutter and banana flavor combo would work well in muffin form.

So here's what I did. 

TWD (okay, WWD) - Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins

 

I love this recipe.

As you can see by the photo above, I didn't make muffins.  I am just not that nuts about muffins.  And since this is really at heart a cornbread recipe (to me, anyway), I figured I'd bake it in a cast iron skillet, as cornbread should be baked.

But first things first.

I whisked my dry ingredients.

 

And, while my ground beef was becoming taco filling (with my own seasonings, not a pre-packaged blend, thankyouverymuch) on the stove, I assembled the wet ingredients and the corn and peppers and cilantro.

 

OH - and the shredded cheddar.  No - don't feel obligated to re-check your notes.  That's MY version of "Playing Around" with this recipe.  The cheese belongs with the rest of the ingredients, and it also adds some additional moisture.  (And of course it's that additional moisture that's the REAL reason for my adding it in...it couldn't possibly be my belief that nearly everything should be topped with a layer of melted cheddar...or filled with oozing brie.  No, couldn't be that at all.)

Anyway, I combined...

 

And I spread the mixture in my cast iron skillet...and sprinkled on some more cheese.  For cosmetic purposes only.

   

And then I slid the pan in the oven to bake while I cooked some Goya rice (with green chiles and tomatoes) and assembled the other ingredients for our taco dinner.

Twenty-five minutes later the rice and the cornbread were done.

Here's the cornbread:

 

Last night's pictures don't do it justice, so I took a few more this morning (better lighting).

Predictably, I loved it, Bill loved it, Julia liked it well enough last night but REALLY liked it earlier this morning as part of an early lunch, and Alex didn't like it at all.  He apologized for not liking it, "but I just don't like all the stuff in it."

Ah well.  It's still a good average.

 

I think this cornbread (as cornbread, not as a muffin) would be BEST along a long-simmered bowl of chili.  But since I didn't have the ingredients or the time for the long-simmering yesterday, I figured some fast tacos would work out okay.

And they did.

In fact, I didn't have tacos at all - I just split open a piece of the cornbread and topped it with the taco fillings.

I did almost the same thing a little while ago, both for me and (once she saw what I had and wanted me to share it with her) for Julia.

 

Julia ate two helpings (they were smaller than the one pictured above) and I had one.  The one in the picture.  Okay, one and a half.

Good thing I sent some in to work with Bill today, because I don't think the remaining quarter of cornbread will last the day.  It's really, really good.

Thanks to Rebecca of Ezra Pound Cake (one of my favorite blog names out there - I love cleverness) for choosing this week's recipe - you can find the recipe on her site or on page 6 in Dorie Greenspan's Baking:  From My Home to Yours. 

And if you want to salivate some more, go to the TWD home page and work your way through the blogroll of other bakers. 

And then, of course, go make a batch of Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins (or cornbread) for yourself.

TWD - Pumpkin Muffins. Well, Actually, I Used Butternut Squash.

 

And I made loaves instead of muffins.

I don't know what it is, but for some reason I'm not crazy about muffins, although I may like the same concoction in loaf form.  I have no explanation for this peculiarity.

But anyway.  This week's recipe  was chosen by Kelly of Sounding My Barbaric Gulp!, and you can find the recipe on her site or in Dorie Greenspan's Baking:  From My Home to Yours on page 13.

Now, though I don't like muffins all that much, I do make an exception for pumpkin muffins.  I love pumkin.  Pumpkin pie.  Pumpkin muffins.  Pumpkin cheesecake.  A good pumpkin ale.  You get the pumpkin - err, the point. 

So I was looking forward to trying out Dorie's version today.

The only problem?  I didn't have any pumpkin in the house.  I have two on my front steps, but they're purely Halloween decor and they kind of belong to my kids.  So they're way off limits.

I did, however, have plenty of butternut squash.  We grew a lot of them this year, so we've got a nice little supply down in the basement, just waiting to be peeled and roasted and made into soup or topped with a bit of butter and salt and pepper, or made into ravioli...or - hey, maybe into muffins! 

I didn't think Dorie would mind.

We grew a mini version of the butternut, and I picked out two of the smallest ones to peel and roast.

 

I also decided that, instead of the sunflower seeds Dorie suggests (which I didn't have anyway), I'd use the squash seeds. 

So I set those aside while I chopped up and baked the squash and assembled the rest of the ingredients. 

After the squash was cooked through and had cooled a bit I ran it through the food processor and voila - faux pumkin puree. 

No one would ever know the difference.  Bwahahaha.

Ahem.

I also made a couple other little changes to Dorie's recipe, all due to what I had on hand and what I didn't.  I used dark sugar instead of light.  And I used (forgive me) a pumkin spice blend because I didn't have any nutmeg to use along with all the other individual spices.  I know.  It's no excuse.  Oh, yes, and I was out of golden raisins so I used the black ones.  And I used the pecans, not the walnuts.  OH, yes, and I was out of vanilla.  So I just left that out.  And I thought I had two eggs, but it turned out one of them had cracked in the package.  So I used one egg and a little vegetable oil to sub for the other egg.  I know.  I'm a rebel.  I bake on the wild side.

Apart from my wild subbing, the rest of the procedure went without incident.

   

I combined and mixed and blended and added and scraped....

       

   

And I greased pans and divided batter and sprinkled pumpkin - oops, butternut - seeds on top.

And then I baked.  Checked progress and rotated and baked a bit longer.

And then they were done. 

They cooled.  I removed them from their pans. They cooled some more.

And then, after dinner (which also included butternut squash, in case you were interested), it was time to slice and sample.

My opinion?  Yum!!

But my opinion pales in comparison to Alex's. 

      

     

He ate the first thick slice and came back for another one. 

      

I asked if he liked it, and he nodded vehemently and rhapturously crooned "...with the pumpkin seeds...and the raisins...in the brrrrrrrreadddddd!!!!"

I'll assume that meant yes.

Julia and Bill haven't tried any yet.  I can predict that Bill will like it and so will Julia but she'll only want a couple of bites.  She's like that.

Now, as always, if you want to see who else did what else with this week's recipe, start working your way through the massive blog list on the Tuesdays with Dorie site.  Should keep you busy for a few whiles, as my daughter would phrase it.  Happy reading!