September has gotten off to a really busy start. (Is it OK to say “start” when you’re two thirds of the way through the month??) Busy in a good way – two trips back down to Durham for recruiting – and for snagging a quick lunch with Marco; a quick weekend in Chicago to run my first ever half marathon and see Steph; a visit from the lovely Phoebe; celebrating the arrival of my friends Dave and Noah in Boston with not one, not two, but three different parties; a tequila-pairing dinner at Lolita with out-of-this-world-good food; visits to Andover to work on the “farm” (more on that soon!); and all the other regular things that make life busy. I’m not at all complaining, but I am glad that the next few weeks will be a little bit quieter and give me time to enjoy the beginning of my favorite season.
One thing that I’ve been meaning to do since the beginning of the month is make these muffins. As soon as that crisp note filled the air and pumpkin beers started to line the shelves of every liquor store, I thought about them. Sweet and savory at the same time, with just the slightest hint of heat from the cayenne, these might just be my favorite muffins ever. (Well, maybe not better than my mom’s pumpkin muffins… I don’t think I’ve ever eaten less than four of those in a sitting. Hey, they’re small. I should get the recipe for you guys.) These are great either for breakfast – I’ve even used them as the “sandwich” around a fried egg – or for a mid-afternoon snack, with a hot cup of coffee. The recipe is adapted from Baked Explorations, and makes me think that Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito might just be geniuses. In fact, now that it is decidedly baking season again (my coworkers are gonna be so excited), I’m hoping to try a few new recipes from this gem of a book. Caramel apple cake, anyone?
Pumpkin Cheddar Muffins
Adapted slightly from Baked Explorations. Makes 12 muffins.
- 1 c. canned pumpkin puree
- 3 TBS sour cream
- 2 eggs
- 1 stick butter, melted, then cooled slightly
- 2 c. flour
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp cayenne
- 1/2 c. brown sugar
- 5 oz. extra sharp or raw milk cheddar cheese, grated
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line muffin tin with paper muffin liners and set aside.
- Mix together pumpkin and sour cream until evenly combined. Whisk in eggs and butter until mixture is smooth, and set aside.
- Whisk together flour, pepper, baking powder and cayenne until evenly combined. Whisk in brown sugar, then pour wet ingredients into dry and stir to combine. Batter will be fairly thick, not runny. Stir in 3/4 of the grated cheese.
- Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling to the top. Sprinkle each muffin with some of the remaining cheese. Bake for 17-20 minutes, until golden-brown on top and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean of any batter (it may have melty cheese on it, but you don’t want still wet batter). Let cool for 5 minutes, then remove from pan. Serve warm!
Great flavor combination! I’ll have to try these this fall!
These look amazing. Sadly the lack of love for the autumn pumpkin season here means we can’t get things liked canned pumpkin puree in the UK. I’ll have to make my own to try these out.
No canned pumpkin! How sad. Last year it looked like there was going to be a shortage in the US, so I stocked up every time I saw some. Turns out I was over-prepared, as I still have 5 cans from last year…
Interesting combination of flavours! Looks amazing!
These muffins look perfect for fall! Clearly, the best breakfast ever. :)
These look awesome! I have a really great recipe for cream cheese-filled pumpkin muffins, but they’re definitely more of a sweet treat. I’ll have to give these a try!
Pumpkin-cream cheese… that sounds delish!
It’s recipes like this that make me sad I’m allergic to dairy… They look simply marvelous!
~Hannah B
These sound so good – I haven’t been too fond of some savory muffin recipes I’ve tried, but I trust the Baked guys to get it right!
I’m currently on a muffin craze, looking at your muffins just make me want to reach out and grab one. Excited to try this one. thanks for posting. hope we have canned pumpkin puree…
It’s definitely muffin season, no? I want to find a good recipe for apple ones next…
Hi! I’m working on a recipe round-up of pumpkin for The Huffington Post Taste and would love to include this recipe. Please let me know if you’re interested. Thanks!
These look incredible! I am very curious to see how pumpkin works in a savory muffin, I have only used it in sweet ones so far this season. Thanks!
http://mainelyinspired.wordpress.com/
I made these this evening using kabocha squash and a lemon pepper blend. Delicious!
Hi! When you say ‘1 stick’ of butter, do you mean 1 cup? They don’t sell ‘Sticks’ of butter in Canada, only sticks of margarine…
Thanks.
Hi Ruth! 1 stick of butter in the states is equal to half a cup.
Hey Katie, How many calories would one muffin be?
I made these and cut the sugar down. They have great consistency but definitely needs a bit of salt and I think I’ll add pecans next time.
This recipe is simply not good. The muffins are very dense and lack flavor. Tried them twice, both times disappointing
Hi Charlene,
Thanks for the feedback! I’m sorry they were disappointing. It’s been a few years since I’ve tried this recipe… I’m going to test it out again and see if there is anything I would change or update.
Katie
I made these muffins twice, and both times they were very dense, and took about twice as long as the recommended time to bake through. I will definitely not use this recipe again or recomend it to others. I hope that later we will see a better recipe for Pumpkin Cheddar Muffins.
These were a hit at the pumpkin-themed office birthday party for my coworker! I used 8 oz of cheese rather than 5 oz (so one whole bag of pre-grated sharp cheddar cheese) and used salted butter. I thought the flavor was good, but I might add bacon or jalapeno next time to mix it up.
Yum! Love the idea of adding bacon or jalapeno. I think I might add both!