pumpkin stuff

So today it was cold. Which is fine. Because I really like cardigans and blankets. But I also hate coats. And shivering. So it's up in the air how I feel about the situation right now. I went to school early this morning, because I had to finish a final project for a class. I'm in this PE Teaching class and we had to record ourselves teaching a few times this semester, then put together a final video...it was complex but not too challenging. The bottom line is, when I was walking to the lab at 7:30 this morning to work on the video I wasn't super pleased about the whole situation.

The one good thing is that after I came home, I discovered a stray can of pumpkin in my basement and I had some free time to experiment, so I put some stuff together and voila! this wonderful creation came out if it all. The beauty of this gem is that it's easily adapted to be bread, muffins, cupcakes, cookies, cake, you know, whatever you want. I'm always looking for easier ways to cook, so this is perfect. Just to be sure the adaptations worked, I made all the varieties today too. Wow. Truly wonderful. This post is just about the muffins because they were my favorite, but the adaptations are on the recipe at the bottom.

So first, dump the whole can of pumpkin into a bowl.

Add the eggs. I only had one egg in my fridge today, so I added a little extra oil and some more baking powder. (For future reference, that's a good substitute for an egg when you're baking. Use like a tablespoon of oil and an 1/8 tsp of baking powder.) Also put the oil, shortening, and sugars in with the pumpkin and stir it up. The shortening will be a little chunky, but that's normal. Don't stress it too much.

 If you're not using buttermilk or half and half,  here's the place where you'll prepare your substitute. Today I used a half and half substitute. Set it aside and let it sit for a bit. In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. The spices looked really pretty all together. And they smelled pretty great too.

Stir in the wet ingredients and add the milk. If you used a substitute, like I did, it should be chunky. Keep stirring until it's well combined. If your shortening was chunky before, this is where it will blend into the batter.

Add the chocolate chips. I was extra generous time and just dumped all that was left in the bag in there. You can adjust accordingly based on your chocolate preferences.

Since I was making muffins, I measured it into my muffin tin. I like my muffins to be real big and puffy, so I filled the tin very full.

Then bake 'em! Y'all. Just making these improved my feelings about the cold and fall. Now I'm eating really really good soft and muffins in a blanket watching tv on my couch and that's going well.

Oh and one more just because you have to see how great these are.

Look at that chocolately goodness! And just so you know, I made these muffins and a whole loaf of bread. There's just so much batter in this recipe, because you can't use a partial can of pumpkin.

Enjoy!

Basic Recipe for Pumpkin Stuff**
1 15 oz can pumpkin
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup shortening (or softened butter)
2/3 cup buttermilk or half and half* (to make this dairy free, use one of the substitutes. I suggest    
      almond milk for this one)
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cloves
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

*Sub 2 tsp vinegar and 2/3 cup milk for butter milk, or 2 tsp melted butter and 2/3 cup milk for half and half
**To make this into cookies, add another egg, to make this into bread take out the butter, 1/2 cup of the chocolate chips, and add a half cup of flour.

Mix the pumpkin, eggs, oil, shortening, buttermilk substitute, and sugars in a small bowl. The shortening will be chunky. In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients and mix well. Stir in the chocolate chips.

If making muffins, fill muffin cups 3/4 the way full. Bake muffins at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

If making bread, divide between 3 loaf pans. Bake bread at 350 for 50 minutes.

If making cookies, drop spoonfuls onto the cookie sheet. Bake cookies at 350 for 8-10 minutes.