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!

Galeux Harvest

We picked our beloved galeux d’eysines the other morning.  It was time.  Their stalks were all dead, and the one in the bikini sling remained hanging from the fence thanks only to the help of lycra, good sewing, and a strong knot.

Three Sisters Swirled Bread

I don’t really know what else to call it.

Other than…amazingly yummy.

But I can tell you how it came about.

Pumpkin Streusel Bread

‘Tis definitely the season for pumpkin recipes.  Breads, pies, custards, ravioli, soups, drinks, and so on abound.  I love autumn for so many reasons, and pumpkin is right up there near the top.

Banana Pumpkin Pancakes with Pear Caramel Sauce

This is the sort of breakfast that happens when I run out of maple syrup….

Pumpkins

We had three pumpkins on the dining room table.

One – we grew.

One – Julia brought home from a field trip.

One – ……… actually, I don’t know where that pumpkin came from. 

We didn’t carve them or paint them.

We just let them sit.

Until this morning.

Pumpkin Pecan Oat Bars

 

Looking for just one more way to include pumpkin in your life?  Look no further….

FFwD – Pumpkin Gorgonzola Flan

This week’s French Fridays with Dorie selection is the Pumpkin Gorgonzola Flan.  At least, that’s what I’m posting this week.  We were given the option this month of posting in any order, so some of the other members may have the Flan up, others will have something different.  Exciting, no?

Pumpkin Gnocchi with Brown Sage Butter

Oh, how I love gnocchi. 

Actually, anything potato-y.  Or starchy. 

I happened to have a lot of potatoes recently, and so I made a huge batch of gnocchi with them and froze it all to use through the winter. 

And then, shortly after that, we happened to have some pumpkin…

Pumpkin Pie Profiteroles

You never know when inspiration will strike. 

Actually, it doesn’t always strike.  Sometimes it just whispers.  Or waves to you from somewhere off to your right and you just catch a glimpse of movement out of the corner of your eye, so you turn, and there it is.

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....

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!