Mum's Crowd Pleaser Pumpkin Muffins

My Mum is one of those people who is naturally gorgeous, she doesn't wear make up (except for lippy!) and her job as a nurse doesn't allow her to wear nail polish, but with the wedding fast approaching and Mum and Dad flying out for 10 days in the sun at Port Douglas tomorrow, it was the perfect opportunity to have a test run with our nails. Things didn't quite go as planned though, Mum got lost and was then running late, none of the colours available in the shellac really matched what she wanted and I knew she was generally uncomfortable about the whole thing....but you know what, she settled on a colour, she relaxed, she gave it a go, the result was gorgeous and I was very proud of her for stepping outside her comfort zone and letting someone pamper her for a change!

So this year when I started planning the list of pumpkin / apple / pecan / halloween and autumn inspired baking, I knew I had to make my Mum's pumpkin muffins. Mum has made these muffins for as long as I can remember. She normally only makes 1 batch a year so they are always a special treat to be savoured...and believe me, a warm pumpkin muffin with a smidgen of melty butter and a hot cuppa is pure heaven on a plate.

And to cater for differing tastes (aka fussy taste buds as I got older) Mum started making half the batch with sultanas and half without as some years I was all for sultanas in my muffins and some years I was adamant they were just not meant to be there! These days I think I prefer them without, but I still like the idea of making half and half especially if you are serving them at a morning tea or sharing them with friends :)


Mum's Crowd Pleaser Pumpkin Muffins

60g butter (melted)
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/3 cup milk
1 egg
1 1/3 cups plain flour
2 tspns baking powder
1/2 tspn salt
1 tspn mixed spice
1/4 cup sultanas

Pre-heat oven to 200C and grease a 12 hole muffin tin.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar.

Add the milk, egg and pumpkin puree and beat to combine.

Add the plain flour, baking powder, salt and mixed spice. Beat until mixture is just combined. (it won't be mega smooth because of the pumpkin, but just so you don't have big lumps of flour!)

Now what I do at this stage is divide half the mixture between 6 muffin cups....then I stir 1/4 cup of sultanas through the remaining mixture and divide that between the remaining muffin cups.

Bake for around 20 mins or until a skewer inserted comes out clear.

Em x