Pumpkin Spice Muffins

It's that time of year for all things pumpkin!  And I've been baking up a storm with pumpkin trying out new and interesting things.


Since I started this journey trying to lower my cholesterol, I plan to make many of my recipes without eggs or butter. This recipe is entirely cholesterol free and each muffin has 5-6 grams of protein.

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 cup pitted dates
• 1 Tbps fresh lemon juice
• 1 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup {all natural} Maple syrup
• 1/4 cup almond butter
• 1 tsp {all natural} vanilla extract (do not use imitation)
• 1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup almond meal
• 1/4 tsp sea or kosher salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp all spice
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• Raw sugar cane (to garnish)
• Olive oil to coat pan

Yields: 12 large muffins

1) Preheat over to 350 degrees. Prepare muffin tins by coating them with a small amount of oil.

2) Place dates in food processor and mince.  Add remaining wet ingredients and combine.

3) Place dry ingredients in a separate bowl and mix to combine.

4) Pour wet ingredients into dry. Mix well.

5) Scoop mixture into muffin tins. Sprinkle with cane sugar.

6) Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

7) Let cool before removing from tin.

NOTE:  I have made this recipe using raisins as well(instead of dates). This was the first time I had purchases and used dates. They were great! These muffins freeze well in an airtight container.

Since this recipe called for many flours I didn't have on hand I decided to adapt it to my everyday pantry. It was adapted from the book: Clean Start. Feel free to give the original a try and let me know what you think.

KID APPROVED??? YES!!!