I Made These Just For You

I owe you all an apology.

I've been away and haven't been able to post for the past week.

I had to go visit somebody...

I'm sure you can understand why it was important. (You do, don't you? I thought you would. I mean, just look at that face.)

Still, since I am so behind on things, as a contrite gesture, I made these just for you all.


Yep. I spent all afternoon ABSOLUTELY SLAVING over these fabulous pumpkin spice muffins.

Okay. THAT'S the story you're supposed to tell people. I am going to reveal to you, dear reader(s?), a most secretive secret.

Here goes...

These pumpkin spice muffins are EASY. But don't let on to anyone! If anybody asks how you made them, you have to say something like, "Oh, you really don't even want to know. I'm simply EXHAUSTED. But here, enjoy them -- I made them just for you."

How easy are they, you ask?

Well, they have two ingredients.
You heard me right. TWO.



Any kind of boxed spice cake mix, and



15 ounces of canned pumpkin***

***Very Important Note: Do NOT use canned pumpkin pie filling, but canned pumpkin. I couldn't find a 15 ounce can of pumpkin, so I got a 29 ounce can and used about half of it. I didn't even bother to measure, because that's just the type of reckless daredevil I am. Livin' on the edge, people, livin' on the edge...



It works best if you have one of these. I love mine. LOVE IT. If you don't have one, you can just use a regular hand mixer, but it will take you a while, and you really WILL be tired when you're finished. You want to really get the cake mix and the canned pumpkin mixed together well.

(P.S. If you have to use a hand mixer, the very second you are finished mixing everything together you must sit down and write Santa a letter asking for a stand mixer.)



(Yes, I said Santa. Christmas is getting closer every day!)



When your (TWO) ingredients are mixed together well, spoon the mix into a muffin tin. I like to use paper liners, because they make handling and storing the muffins (not to mention clean up) so much easier. If you don't use the liners, I suppose you need to grease the tin ... hmmmm... just use the liners, okay?

Fill the tins nearly to the top. As they cook, the muffins will rise, but not as much as regular cupcakes. The mix (and muffins) will be nice and dense.

Oh yeah. And here's the other thing. I always get about fifteen muffins from a batch. My muffin tin has space for twelve muffins, so the second batch only has three. Sometimes I will just fill a small loaf pan with the rest of the mix, instead. Maybe one day I'll try frying it like doughnuts. Whichever way you go, have fun with it.

Pop the tin into a pre-heated 350 degree oven and cook for about 20 minutes. If you insert a toothpick into the center of a muffin to test for done-ness, it will come out clean, but just barely. These are much better undercooked than overcooked. No raw eggs -- nothing to worry about. (Lick that spoon with wild abandon!!!)



Let the baked muffins cool in the pan for a few minutes, then move them out onto a baking rack to finish cooling down. Once completely cool, they can be stored in zip lock bags or air tight containers, where they stay good for several days. I'm not sure exactly how long, because they simply don't stay around here for more than a day or two.

Enjoy!!! But REMEMBER.

Don't tell ANYBODY how easy these are. Okay?



Okay.