Pumpkin Muffins with Pineapple Yogurt and Cardamom-Pepita Crumble

I was all set and ready to go with the Latin explanation of these muffins: E Plagiaristic Unum which in shorthand translates to light, fluffy, delicious pumpkin muffins filled with a tart, tangy, and yet faintly sweet, yet distinctly breakfasty pineapple yogurtus, upon which is heaped a crumbly facade of pepitus nutus in which the overt sweetness is tempered in the slightest with a splattering of cardamom. Tell me you are not infinitesimally grateful that I didn't go with the longhand version.

I some how arrived at this place in time where I realized it's finally cooling off here a bit, my summer came and went like the mystery illness that plagued me all summer and even stumped my sister (which is a hard thing to do I may add), I also came to deduce I am no furniture mover (disguised as a mild mannered furniture salesperson) after a 100 pound dining table tried to send me to an unserendipitiious end.  The only thing I was left with after my nonexistent suntan started to fade was the harsh reality that my life was in extreme need of simplification and I ended my second job post haste. What else was there to do? Quit making muffins and other sugar filled treats? You people really make me laugh. 

Trolling the interweb I was taken with this recipe for Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins on Sally's Baking Addition, and while it was so lovely I thought perhaps If I eliminated a step here and pumped up the spice volume there I could reclaim a smidgen of my lost summer, sigh.  Well the dream was nice while it lasted a whole 30 seconds.

Pumpkin, Pineapple Yogurt, Cardamom-Pepita Crumble Muffins
Crumb topping:
¼ cup packed light brown sugar
½ cup all-purpose flour
1-teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
1/3-cup raw pepitas, toasted (toast pepitas in small skillet on medium heat until slightly brown and let cool)

Muffin batter:
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1-teaspoon baking powder
1-teaspoon baking soda
1-teaspoon kosher salt
1-teaspoon ground cinnamon
1-teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
1-teaspoon ground ginger
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 large eggs
½ cup vegetable oil
¼ cup milk

Filling:
5.3 ounces (1 container) pineapple fruit on the bottom Greek yogurt, stirred

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F.

Make crumb topping. In a small bowl combine light brown sugar, all-purpose flour, cinnamon, cardamom, salt, butter, and toasted pepitas, stir until combined and set aside.

Prepare a 12-cup muffin tin with paper or foil liners and set aside. In a large mixing bowl combine the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, cardamom, ginger (these were spicy but not overwhelmingly in my opinion, if you wanted a little less spicy feel free to leave out or reduce the ginger), brown sugar, pumpkin puree, eggs, vegetable oil, and milk, stir until combined and divide evenly into the prepared muffin tin.

Divide the yogurt evenly and press a large dollop onto and down into the center a bit of each muffin.  

Break up the crumb topping with your fingers and divide it evenly over the batter.

Place the muffins in the middle rack of a preheated oven and bake for 5 minutes, then turn the oven heat down to 350 degrees F and bake for 15-16 minutes longer, until the muffins are set in the center.

Let cool.

At this very moment there are serious pressing issues occupying my thoughts:

Like what to be for Halloween???? People in case you haven't noticed it's in 32 days. Not one decoration is up, not one ghoulish treat is in the works, and I haven't even started on the apology letter I need to have on hand in case I run into my sister's neighbor at the Halloween party this year after last years inflammatory incident (which will be in the book if I ever get that finished). Perhaps I should just bury my head in the muffins and go back and work on some illustrations I've been working on and forget all of this. 

Until we salivate over food together again! (Or until I experience another complete lapse in judgment, which could be sooner than either of us thinks.)

Gina

Sweet Potato Cheesecake Tarts with Pecan Crusts

*The Salisbury steak is about to hit the fan around here folks and I just thought I'd warn you if you have a pacemaker, poor sense of humor, or are a Halloween kill-joy to turn the channel now.  It's about to go dark around here after this post and the Evil Cookie Queen with be taking over with Halloween hijinks until the big day of doom arrives.*

Until that darkness rains down upon us let's enjoy a tranquil moment, complete with a deep breath of crisp fall air. In my part of California we don't experience fall we have mostly warm afternoons leading to somewhat cool evenings.  During this time of year I like to pretend I'm surrounded by acres of trees sporting their fall color and wearing a cable sweater instead of shorts and sandals.

I also love to mix it up with fall desserts, not to be the most hated blogger in the land; but the avalanche of pumpkin recipes I've been seeing day in and day out already has me on overload.  I like pumpkin too and will be baking with it soon enough, but I just want to ease a little into fall before going all out pumpkin.

A few years back I made these Sweet Potato Cheesecake Tarts for a contest and my mom has been asking for them ever since.  I had no idea where the original recipe went, so I sat down and made them again and wrote the recipe up.  My mom was very happy with her surprise delivery I may add.

Sweet Potato Cheesecake Tarts with Pecan Crusts

Pecan Crust:
1/2 cup pecans, ground
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3-4 tablespoons ice water
1/2 teaspoon salt

Sweet Potato Cheesecake Filling:
3/4 cup mashed sweet potato
1 large egg
1/3 cup granulated sugar
5 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Pinch ground cloves
Pinch salt

Crumble:
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup finely chopped pecans
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Pinch ground cloves
Pinch salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

1)  Make the crust first.  Add the pecans, flour, light brown sugar, butter, and salt to the bowl of a food processor and pulse a few times.  Slowly add the water one tablespoon at a time through the top of the food processor and pulse until the crust comes together.  Or you can mix the crust in a bowl using a pastry cutter.

2)  Turn the dough out onto a floured board and roll until 1/4-inch thick.  Cut out rounds with a 2-inch fluted (or just round) cutter and place the rounds into a 24-cup mini muffin pan sprayed with no-stick spray.  Push each round down with your finger and place the dough in the fridge until needed.

3)  To the bowl of a food processor add sweet potato, egg, sugar, cream cheese, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt and pulse until well mixed.  Or mix in a bowl with a whisk.  Set aside.

*I like to cook the sweet potatoes in the microwave to make things easier.

4)  In a small bowl mix together flour, light brown sugar, pecans, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, salt, and butter and mix until crumbly.

5)  Fill each crust with cheesecake batter until full and then divide the crumble topping over the tarts.

6) Bake in 350 degree F oven for 17 minutes.  Let cool.

Makes 24 mini tarts.

Enjoy,

Gina

Pear Cinnamon Streusel Muffins

How hard is it to get a picture of a muffin I thought to myself as I looked through what seemed like 100 bad ones.  Let's not get distracted by the fact I took 100 shots of said muffin in the first place.  The muffin just wasn't having any of it.  I advised the muffin, look just sit there looking darn delicious and appealing.  Matter of fact turn your chin down a little bit to the right and you will eliminate the old double muffin chin.

Apparently the muffin didn't want my sage advice; neither did Hot Dog Dude when I told him he should probably review all the invoices before I sent them out for the third time the other day. Apparently my teenage daughter passed up on the advice of her older (yet wiser) mom when she downloaded crap I told her not to on my work computer.

It's okay, I had no plans for this morning besides backing up the computer before having it repaired and having to start all over again on the invoices that were stored on it that need correcting again.  It's flippin okay because I have my Siamese twins helping me at work in the office today and I have a whole container of muffins and no one is here to stop me from eating them all.  Also the boss isn't here to catch me wasting company time blogging instead of working.  Bwahahaha.

Pay back is sweet I tell you.

Pear and Cinnamon Streusel Muffins 

Muffin batter:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Pinch salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

2 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

2/3 cup milk

2 large eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup peeled and diced pears, 1/4-inch sized

Streusel: 

1/3 cup light brown sugar

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Combine in bowl flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, butter, cream cheese, milk, eggs, vanilla, and cinnamon and stir to combine. Fold pears in gently.

Divide batter between 12 muffin cups lined with paper or foil liners.

In a small bowl combine light brown sugar, flour, butter, and cinnamon and crumble together with your fingers or a fork until the mixture starts to clump a bit.

Divide the streusel evenly over the 12 muffins.

Bake for 17-19 minutes.

p.s. Whenever I make anything with cinnamon it reminds of Becky - Baking and Cooking a Tale of Two Loves because she keeps her house stocked with a Costco sized container of cinnamon that she bakes up all sorts of treat with, besides the fact she is extra sweet herself.

Hope you all enjoy the rest of your day, I've decide today is a waste so why not polish off the rest of the muffins.

Gina