its the most wonderful time of the year....

so has anyone else heard the extremely annoying comcast commercial on the radio lately? you know, the one with the raspy deep men singing "its the most wonderful time of the year" due to the arrival of football season? well, even though it drives me crazy, i must agree- it IS the most wonderful time of year! and not just because of football- because of PUMPKIN! i am quite a fan of pumpkin, and this is the first of MANY pumpkiny recipes i intend to share this autumn season. if you want a peek, check out my pumkpin pinboard here. i love pumpkin anything- bread, candles, lattes, pies, cookies, cakes, soup, the color, the smell, the flavor, the warmth, the seeds, the carving, the small ones, the big ones- anything pumpkin!! i've often said if i had to live on one food for the rest of my life, it would be pumpkin pie. i mean it too!

so nevertheless, with much anticipation and eager excitement for the arrival of cooler weather, freshly sharpened pencils, and all things pumpkin, i went to my kitchen, ipad with recipe in hand, and got out a can of pumpkin.

then, i got to work. i used this recipe here. to start, i combined the sugar, eggs, and water with my handy dandy pink kitchenaid whisk in my le creuset batter bowl (love)

to that, i added my pumpkin and some oil

next, i combined the dry ingredients- i should note here that i doubled the recipe because i wanted 24 muffins instead of 12. i used 1 cup of whole wheat flour, 2 cups unbleached all purpose white flour, then i added everything else it called for- baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, salt, and then to that, i also added in about 1/4 cup flax seed and oatmeal. i think i could have added even more of those, but was worried about the texture.

i used my new large 4-qt pyrex bowl which was perfect! this was a lot of stuff! next, i tossed in the chocolate chips so they would get coated and not sink in the muffin mix.  i used mini chocolate chips, mostly because thats all i had, but i think they were a good choice- more distrubition of the chocolately goodness.

then, i dumped the liquidy pumpkiny stuff right on in. i stirred just until everything was mixed. it looked great!

then, i scooped it out in my muffin tins and it was ready to go in the oven

i should add here, i have learned my lesson about cheap muffin papers. see what happens? they bunch up. and they burn. and they stick. yuck. no good. so, i plan on investing in good muffin papers soon.

while these looked super yum, i decided they needed a little something else. maybe a dip in cinnamon sugar when they come out? some sort of glaze? no- i got it, streusel! so i quickly looked up a streusel recipe and got to work. i chopped up 1 stick of butter like so and tossed it in the food processor, then added 1/2 cup flour, a big dash of cinnamon, and 1/4 cup sugar. i processed until crumbly, then poured on top of my muffins.

20 minutes at 400 and these babies were perfect!

i made a few without streusel, and they were pretty too

so there you go! pumpkin streusel muffins. they were delish- and quite hearty & healthy, with the addition of flax and oatmeal. here's to autumn- and lots more pumpkiny perfection!!!