EPISODE 24

Gone are the days of dry, pasty vegan baked goods. The first time my cinematographer, the wonderful Ruth Stewart Patterson, tasted these muffins, she pretend to faint. I understand the sentiment. These are moist and have a similar consistency to pumpkin pie. If you’re a big fan of streusel topping, feel free to increase the amount you use. If you’re not an aficionado, you can also decrease how much you put in, although I would highly discourage you from dispensing with it altogether. The nutty, cinnamony, sugary crunch it creates is not to be missed.

Ingredients

• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 1½ tsp cinnamon
• 1½ tsp dried ginger
• ¾ tsp allspice
• ⅔ cup canned natural pumpkin (not spiced or sweetened)
• ⅓ cup packed brown sugar
• ½ cup applesauce
• ⅓ cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1½ tsp cinnamon
• ½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350F.

In one bowl mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and allspice. In another bowl, whisk together pumpkin, brown sugar, applesauce, vegetable oil, and vanilla. Mix everything together and put the batter into lined muffin tins. The recipe makes a dozen.

To make the streusel topping, mix together brown sugar, oil, cinnamon, and chopped walnuts or pecans. Sprinkle evenly over the muffins and bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes.

Alternatively, you can use a mini muffin pan to make 24 adorable mini muffins. In that case, you should bake them at 300F for closer to 20 minutes. If you don’t want to use paper liners, you can spray the pan well with a baking spray like pam.

Enjoy!