Friends, hello! This week, the pumpkin muffin experiments ended when I made a batch with a mix of baking soda and baking powder, and the muffins emerged from the oven with beautifully domed tops and a nicely golden hue without a trace of a metallic taste. They tasted heavenly, perfectly spiced and pumpkin-y with the loveliest texture.

As noted last week, the pumpkin muffin experiments began last month when my two youngest kids wanted to bake, and I suggested we make pumpkin bread but in muffin form. The muffins turned out well, but in an effort to make the muffins taste more — wait for it — muffin-like as opposed to quick-bread like, I tweaked the recipe a bit, namely by replacing the water with buttermilk, which worked beautifully, making for an especially moist crumb.

As with the pumpkin bread, I use oil (as opposed to butter) here, which allows the batter to be mixed in one bowl with a whisk and spatula — no stand mixer required. And finally, just before baking, I sprinkle the batter with turbinado sugar, which makes for a truly irresistible muffin top:

Just-baked pumpkin muffins on a cooling rack.

Friends! I hope you have a wonderful weekend, and I hope you find time to make these muffins for yourself or your friends or your family. They keep well for days at room temperature, and they freeze well, too 🍂🍁🍃

One-Bowl Pumpkin Muffins

Pumpkin Toasting Loaf

As noted also last week, the pumpkin muffin recipe will leave you with leftover pumpkin purée. I ended up upping the amount of pumpkin puree in the muffins to be an even 1 cup, so you're now left with a little bit less than half a can of purée.

A great way to use up the purée is to stir it into bread dough. The pumpkin tinges the baked loaf a beautiful orange hue and lends a softness to the crumb. What it does not do is impart that much flavor — if you closed your eyes while taking a bite, you would never know you were eating a slice of pumpkin bread. In the weeks ahead, I’m hoping to make a more pumpkin-y tasting loaf by upping the amount of pumpkin and reducing the water.

All of this said, this is a great recipe to put that leftover pumpkin puree to use! You can use the bread for sandwiches — it is soft but sturdy — and I think it would be so fun to have on hand at Thanksgiving for leftover turkey sandwiches. Also: it makes excellent toast:

I've shared this recipe in Google docs, not on the blog, because it is a work in progress. Would love to hear your thoughts if you make it.

Pumpkin Toasting Loaf

Review of the Week

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Easiest French Apple Tart

"So easy, delicious and elegant. I made 2 for our Canadian Thanksgiving dessert. The dough was perfect and so easy to work with. I really appreciate your video tutorials as well. Many thanks!"

— Laura