Ginger Pecan Pumpkin Muffins

Hi everyone! I hope you had a fabulous holiday weekend and had the opportunity to eat lots and lots of delicious food! The last several days have been jam packed with some serious travel, the closing of the college football season, and quality time spent with friends and family. What more could a girl ask for?

My contribution to the holiday weekend came in the form of Ginger Pecan Pumpkin Muffins. I'm always a fan of trying out unexpected ingredients, and crystallized ginger was just the ticket. It adds a little 'this feels like something I'd find at a fancy restaurant' and combines with the crunchy familiarity and nuttiness of chopped pecans. Yes, these taste as delicious as they look.

After gathering the ingredients and mixing everything together, bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

These little babies came out of the oven looking phenomenal. Is your mouth watering yet?

Allow to cool on a wire rack before OPERATION DEVOUR ensues.

Recipe adapted from The Year In Food

GINGER PECAN PUMPKIN MUFFINS | Yield: 12 muffins | Total Time: 45 min.

INGREDIENTS:

2 C unbleached all-purpose flour
1 C light brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 C pumpkin puree (unspiced, unsweetened plain puree)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 C olive oil
1/4 C nonfat Greek yogurt
2/3 C chopped pecans
1/3 C chopped crystallized ginger

NOTE: Crystallized ginger can be found in the bulk health foods section of a grocery store, and at most organic food stores. You can also order it from an online spice store, or make your own with fresh ginger using THIS RECIPE.

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix the pumpkin puree with the beaten eggs, olive oil and yogurt. Whisk thoroughly.

Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. Slowly fold the dry ingredients into the wet, stirring until just combined.

Combine the chopped pecans with the crystallized ginger. Reserve 1/4 C for topping the muffins, and fold in the remaining mix to the muffin batter.

Grease muffin tin or use muffin liners, and divide batter equally. Top each muffin with some of the remaining pecans and crystallized ginger.

Bake about 25-30 min. or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Yum. Yum. Yum.