Recipe #20: Pumpkin Spice Muffins with Cream Cheese Frosting

recipe here

Remember those pumpkin cakes I made a while ago? Well, I had some leftover pumpkin puree in a container that I had been using here and there for other recipes but needed to use up. Pumpkin muffins sounded like a good idea, and it's something I enjoy eating.

We only had about half a cup of pumpkin left at this point, though, so I had to halve the recipe and make only 6 muffins. I used regular milk instead of evaporated milk (and forgot to halve it but it turned out well despite the fact I used too much milk). I also forgot to add spices to the top to add a bit of extra crunch beneath the cream cheese, but that wasn't a problem.

This recipe turned out really good, in my opinion. I sort of guessed at the amounts for the frosting and adjusted as needed. I don't usually put much frosting on, anyway, so I was able to figure out how much was good for ME.

My only complaint (which might be my fault, I did cut up the butter well but maybe not well enough) was that it was really buttery. I don't have a pastry cutter so I just used a knife and did the best I could. I added raisins, too, which was a great addition. Pumpkin and golden raisins are a good combination in muffins.

So next time I will make the full dozen muffins, remember the spice on the top of the muffin, and try to find a way to make it not so buttery. Definitely a keeper, though!

Recipe #21: Zucchini Bites

recipe here

If you can't tell, I've been a bit recipe crazy these past few days. It helps that there's a bunch of stuff in the house that needs to be eaten. We were gone for a few days and when we came back we had these GIANT zucchinis. My contribution today were these zucchini bites, which according to the site is something like a mini quiche and a muffin. Personally I think they're more like a min quiche, or maybe an omelet.

The original recipe said it would make 24 mini muffins, but my eyes must have skipped the mini part. I decided to halve the recipe because 12 would be just fine for me. I took out a regular muffin pan and it filled about 6 of those maybe a little over half. I also didn't have fresh parsley in the house but I'm not a fan so I was fine going without.

I used slightly sharp white cheddar. The recipe was really simple, just a lot of peeling, grating, cutting, and stirring.

They were OK. Light and fluffy, and the cheese I chose wasn't too strong or overpowering. Next time I might add some salt or pepper, just to give it a little oomph, because they were a bit on the bland side.

Had these for lunch, along with some of my leftover cashew chicken, and it was a good meal.