Pumpkin Ginger-Nut Muffins

Remember after last week's pumpkin mee suah cake I had this piece of pumpkin leftover? Well I made some Pumpkin Ginger-Nut Muffins a couple of days after that. I did not know what to expect of the final results as I was either short of this or short of that. After steaming whatever pumpkin I had, I realized that it yielded only one third cup of puree instead of the required one cup. I did not have plain flour and so substituted it with half-and-half of cake flour and self-rising flour plus another half teaspoon of baking powder. I have no ground nutmeg and so used only the allspice, cinnamon and ground ginger. And perhaps due to the shortage of mashed pumpkin, the mixture turned out very dry. I then added 75ml of unsweetened soya milk to loosen up the mixture. The muffins turned out super nice though! They smelt heavenly and the texture was just nice with a nice crunch coming from the chopped roasted walnuts and candied ginger. It was especially good eaten warm and just as good when cold. Best of all, they remained soft and moist even after 24 hours.



Pumpkin Ginger-Nut Muffins
Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups flour (3/4cup ea of cake flour + self-rising flour + 1/2tsp baking powder)
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup cooked pumpkin purée (1/3 cup)
1/3 cup melted butter
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup water (plus 75ml unsweetened soya milk, if needed)
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (I did not have this)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup chopped toasted walnuts or pecans (I used pecans)
2 Tbsp well chopped candied ginger
Method:
1) Preheat oven to 175°C.
2) Sift the flours, baking soda, baking powder and spices together. Stir in the sugar, chopped nuts and ginger and mix throughly.
3) Mix the pumpkin, melted butter, eggs and water together. Stir well to disperse the mashed pumpkin and then combine with the dry ingredients until just incorporated. Do not over-mix. If the mixture looks dry at this point of time, then stir in the soya milk.
4) Spoon mixture into a prepared muffin cups and bake for 25-30 minutes.
5) Check for doneness by inserting a skewer into the center of a muffin. If it comes out clean, it is done.
6) Cool on a rack.
Note: Ingredients in brackets are the changes made by me.