Pumpkin Pecan Bran Muffins

Hi friends– My most frequent “stress dream” is always the same.  I’m working on dinner for a crowd waiting hungrily in the next room,  and I can’t get it done– I’m trying to summon up dinner from 2 oranges and a can of beans or I’ve lost the turkey…

Well, my nightmare finally came true!  The family was here for a birthday dinner and I realized when it was bout time to eat that my oven was dying!  The roasting potatoes and the corn soufflé was totally raw!!  Ugh.

The bad new is a couple days later I was having 30 friends for breakfast and no oven— The good news is that the world’s best neighbor Trisha let me use her oven.  The crazy news is her house is in the middle of a total remodel, so I was dashing in and out amid the construction crew with tins of muffins and pans of coffee cake…

But it all came out OK (Thank’s Trisha!!)– and these are the muffins– good for a post Thanksgiving breakfast to use up that leftover pumpkin.  They are delish!

PUMPKIN PECAN BRAN MUFFINS

Streusel:
4 tab. butter, melted
6 tab. brown sugar
2 tab. white sugar
6 tab. flour
1/3 cup pecans, chopped

Muffins:
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup flour
1 cup wheat bran
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
2/3 cup chopped pecans
1/3 cup currants

First make the streusel.  Melt the butter in a mixing bowl (microwave).  Then stir in the 6 tab. brown sugar, 2 tab. white sugar and 6 tab. flour. Chop the 1/3 cup pecans and set all this aside.

In a larger mixing bowl, stir together the pumpkin, egg, 1/2 cup brown sugar and canola oil.  Them mix in the 1 cup flour, wheat bran, baking powder, salt and pumpkin pie spice.
Last, fold in the peans and currants.

Spoon the thick batter into 10 to 12 muffins cups lined with cupcake papers*.

With your fingers, break up the streusel into coarse crumbs over all the muffins and then sprinkle the 1/3 cup chopped pecans over the top.

Pop them into the oven at 350 for 15 to 20 minutes– until they are firm to the touch.

Delicious hot from the oven, or cooled with a bracing mug of tea.

*If you live in socal– Sprouts has the best muffin papers– a pretty light  brown parchment, slightly waxed to the muffins never stick.

 

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