Late-Night Whole Wheat Pumpkin Muffins

We needed a healthy, quick to eat breakfast to grab Sunday morning before church... Which I realized at 10 PM Saturday night.  Princess Artiste and her friend had just made pumpkin bars, so there was a container of pumpkin in the fridge, needing to be used.

Previous Post: Baking Experiment -
Different Flours in same Banana Bread

I found a wonderful sounding, partially whole-wheat pumpkin muffin recipe that I thought would kill the 2 birds:  offering a healthy breakfast item, while also using the leftover pumpkin.  I replaced the combination of whole grain pastry flour and all-purpose with freshly ground whole soft wheat flour and a bit of vital wheat gluten.  Remembering my crumbly banana bread made from soft wheat flour, I was hoping the vital wheat gluten would help create enough gluten in the batter so that the muffins weren't too delicate to handle.

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Muffins

adapted from the recipe for Pumpkin Muffins by Ellie Krieger, Food Network.com

Makes 24 muffins
Preheat oven to 375 degrees on convection, or 400 degrees on bake
Spray 2 12-cup muffin tins with Pam, or grease using your favored method

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together

4 cups whole soft wheat (pastry) flour 

2 Tablespoons vital wheat gluten 

2 teaspoons baking soda 

3/4 teaspoon salt 

1 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon 

1 teaspoon ground ginger 

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves 

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

In a large bowl, mix

1 cup packed brown sugar 

3/8 cup (6 Tablespoons) unsulphered molasses 

1/2 cup canola oil

Whisk in

4 eggs, 2 at a time

Add

2 cups pureed/canned pumpkin 

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Alternating with the dry ingredients, mix into the pumpkin 

1 1/2 cups plain yogurt 

1/2 Tablespoon cider vinegar (Wasn't sure if this was necessary, but I wanted to make sure the baking soda had enough acid for the reaction.  Now reading, I see that the yogurt and molasses were probably acidic enough.)

Divide batter into the muffin cups into the 2 well-greased muffin pans.

I didn't think to stir in nuts or Craisins, which would have been good options, so made a crunchy topping instead.                                                              
Mix

3 Tablespoons brown sugar 

1 cup chopped walnuts

and sprinkle over the muffin batter before baking.




Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until the internal temperature is about 200 degrees and/or a toothpick inserted just off center comes out clean or crumbly, but not gooey.


These came out of the pan very easily, and didn't fall apart as they were handled and eaten.  This makes me think that the vital wheat gluten addition was a reasonable way to make up for not using the all-purpose flour, which is higher protein than the soft wheat flour.