So it is officially fall (although really to me fall starts after Labor Day), but I’m still having a hard time wrapping my head around it. Usually I am ready to dive in to fall and the pleasant weather and the warm meals and pumpkins. But halfway through September part of my brain still thought it was August, and I only remembered last week that I have fall decorations to put up in the house.
The truth is that aside from almost forgetting that fall decorations existed in my house, I have been logistically ready for fall. Evelyn has several cute fall outfits (which makes me ready for the weather to cool down a bit more!). I’ve made a list of a few fall activities I want to do as a family. I’ve even planned Evelyn’s Halloween costume (costumes completely intimidate me, so I knew I needed to start early). But I just can’t emotionally catch up with how fast the seasons are moving. I’ve been told this has something to do with having a kid. ;)
This weekend though, we went down to Auburn for a tailgate and a football game and came back appropriately exhausted, so that does make things feel a bit more seasonal. And having some pumpkin muffins in the oven last week so that we could eat them at said tailgate helped as well. We had my dad’s BBQ and my favorite cookies. The weather wasn’t hot or cold (although it was cloudy), and although we came home hardly able to function from how little sleep we got, it felt good to be back down on the plains and to see family and friends.
Now for a fall full of weekends with more family and food and football (and pumpkins!).
Pumpkin Streusel Muffins
Makes 12 muffins
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Bake Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients:
*For the muffins:*
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves (or nutmeg)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup well-shaken buttermilk
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
*For the topping:*
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter, slightly softened
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and place oven rack in the middle of the oven. Butter a muffin pan, or grease with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves (or nutmeg), and salt.
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together melted and cooled butter, brown sugar, pumpkin, buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, stirring gently with a rubber spatula until all ingredients are combined. Be very careful not to over mix. Set batter aside.
- In a small bowl, combine the ingredients for the topping: flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter. Mash the ingredients together until butter is evenly distributed and mixture is crumbly with pieces about the size of peas. (If it gets a little stickier that’s ok; you can just crumble it between your fingertips.)
- Scoop muffin batter into the muffin tins (an ice cream scoop works well), filling each cup about halfway. Then top each muffin with a couple of teaspoons of the streusel topping, lightly pressing the topping so that it sticks to the top of the muffins.
- Bake muffins for 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool slightly on a wire rack, and serve warm.