I am not Martha Stewart (or whomever the most current example of domestic goddess-ness is). I gaze at the cooking magazine covers with perfectly-glazed cookies and tastefully decorated seasonal tables and wish, as always, that I could just get invited to one of those people’s parties. It would be my Oscar night. And all the trophies would be edible.
Instead I focus on making fun–dare I say cute–things for Little e’s school lunch. Namely, mini muffins. I wrote a while ago about my go-to method of cooking steel-cut oats for a fortnight, and this is kind of a riff on the same idea. Make a bunch of tiny muffins and stuff them in a freezer bag, to be retrieved two at a time Monday through Friday (unless a hungry late-night snacker finds them). So far, it’s been a success. And poor DH only has to scrub the mini muffin pan once every two weeks. Bless.
Butternut Squash Muffins
Adapted from Allrecipes
Ingredients
1 ½ cups butternut squash, roasted
3 eggs
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup white sugar
½ cup brown sugar
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup rolled oats
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ cup raisins (optional)
Method
Preheat the oven to 400 F. Grease a 24 mini muffin tin (or make about 12 regular-size muffins).
To roast the squash, I cut it in half lengthwise, deseed it and placed it cut side down on a greased cookie sheet. Cover it will foil and roast at 375F for about 30-40 minutes, depending on size. Surplus roasted squash is always nice to have around for risotto, soup, pie…
Put the measured (and cooled) butternut squash into a large bowl. If it’s not soft enough to easily mash into a smooth puree, I get out my hand blender, add a few tablespoons of water and puree it with the next ingredients: the eggs, both sugars and oil. Add the raisins to the wet mixture. Combine your dry ingredients in another bowl: whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. Pour dry into wet ingredients and mix just enough to combine everything. Don’t overmix; some little lumps are okay.
Fill mini muffins cups to 2/3 full and bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the usual toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 2 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.
XO
Ria
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