Pumpkin & Rye muffins

Mid-October, rainy, cold weather outside and me – being alone at home for more than two weeks already. I don’t know how that would feel for you, but me, I started feeling quite down. I would love to talk, be hugged and laugh again!

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Bara, Bara! I couldn’t stand seeing myself in such a bad, self-pitying mood! He is getting back home soon, the sun will show up again and me… I just need to do something and be happier again!

In Norwegian, there is one beautiful word – koselig – cosy. But unlike in English, this Norwegian word can be used as a verb also – å kose seg, to have a nice, cosy time. My dear Bjørn Harald sometimes laughs that this word fits perfectly into my little world – and he’s perfectly right, I love to kose meg and make the apartment of ours into a super-duper koselig place!

So, I decided to stop being sad and rather change that unhappy afternoon into a joyful, happy and koselig one!

The simple plan was:

Tidy up the apartment, lit up candles and play music (The Piano Guys, please!)

Drink wine (hot red wine with cinnamon, cloves and star anis!)

Last but not least, make some good warming food!

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Last week, I baked pumpkin to make puree for soup and a babka bread. Luckily, I didn’t use all the puree that day and still had some in my fridge.

Cool! Let’s make some more pumpkin-based recipes, shall we?

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For dinner, I decided to repeat pumpkin soup with curry paste and coconut oil, I love that one!

But for baking, I wanted to try something new, though nothing extreme. Something, where pumpkin wouldn’t play the main, but still an important role.

Finally, I decided to incorporate the pumpkin puree into spiced muffins – to make them moist and fluffy!

Believe me, it was a good decision!

When you see the muffins finished, you might think “Hmm, so how much do I need to drink while eating this dry piece of dough?”, but once you have a bite, you’ll be surprised how juicy these muffins actually are!

Yep, that’s the pumpkin puree! 😉

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Well, let’s stop talking and rather jump directly to the recipe!

Have a koselig day and let me know how you liked the muffins!

Pumpkin & Rye Muffins with Orange

INGREDIENTS (For 10 large muffins)

FOR THE PUREE

Pumpkin Hokkaido, cut in half

FOR THE DOUGH

560g Pumpkin puree

160g Sukrin (or Sugar)

40g Agave syrup

100g Coconut oil, melted

Zest from one orange

2 tbsp Orange Juice

3 eggs

200g All-purpose Wheat Flour

100g Fine Rye Flour

14g Baking Powder

2 tsp Cinnamon, 1/2 tsp anis, 1/2 tsp cloves, 1 tsb ginger

Pinch of salt

FOR THE CRUMB TOPPING

40g Pumpkin Seeds

60g Coarse Rye Flour

20g Agave Syrup

INSTRUCTIONS

MAKE THE DOUGH

First of all, make the pumpkin puree, see the instructions here:

Basic Pumpkin Puree

Preheat oven to 180°C.

On a baking tray lined with parchment paper, place 10 paper muffin forms, or use a muffin tin.

In a large bowl, mix both flours, all spices, slat and baking powder.

In another bowl, whisk together eggs, Sukrin (or sugar), syrup, oil, orange juice, zest and pumpkin puree.

Slowly incorporate all dry ingredients.

Evenly distribute the dough into the forms (140g for a large muffin, 70g for a small one)

MAKE THE CRUMB

Chop the seeds.

Pour the seeds into a bowl, add flour, syrup and mix by hands to make a crumb.

Distribute the crumb on top of all muffins.

Bake for 40 – 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted to the middle of a muffin doesn’t come out clean (small 70g muffins are baked in 35-40 min).