hey everyone, happy november! i went and disappeared for a few weeks again, but i’m back again with a delicious fall recipe. i’m actually writing this post from a bus on my way back from nyc where the girl and i celebrated our 4 year dating anniversary by eating delicious food and walking pretty much every square block of the city. friday night we hit thomas keller’s bouchon bakery, followed by dinner at 3 separate places in chinatown (mei li wah is AMAZING). saturday, despite being full from dinner the night before, it was burgers at shake shack, including a “pumpkin pie oh my” shake, which is a shake with a pie of pumpkin pie INSIDE OF IT. the future is here, people. later that night, we were lucky enough to dine at kefi for some awesome greek food. there was more food along the way, but i’m getting dizzy thinking about it. in any event, it was our kind of anniversary.

but now it’s time to head back home to beautiful washington dc, the land of, as i found out this past week, about a million food bloggers. we were finally able to make it to one of the food blogger happy hours last wednesday and had the pleasure of meeting some people we’ve been fans of for so long (check out the dc section of the links page – i love these people). if you haven’t made it out yet, it’s a great time with an incredibly warm and inviting bunch of people who are obsessed with food and drink, and it’s a great opportunity to pick everyone’s brains for their favorite restaurants as well.

whew, i’m kind of all over the place with this post and i haven’t even gotten to the muffins yet. i guess it’s been a busy few weeks (and i didn’t even get into me getting SWINE FLU for a week – seriously). anywho, the recipe is from the always great pinch my salt, whose recipe index i’ve relied on more than once. the fact that they are whole wheat bears special relevance to me right now, since the girl has been slowly influencing my baking since we moved in together – namely by turning every recipe into a whole wheat recipe. i was skeptical at first, but i’m slowly coming around (whole wheat waffles are actually REALLY good). these muffins can be frozen and are great to grab in the morning for the walk to work. hopefully the reported pumpkin shortage this year doesn’t hurt your chances of making these (or any of your pumpkin favorites). good luck!

whole wheat pumpkin muffins
from pinch my salt.

2 1/2 c whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 c pumpkin puree (canned, libby’s)
2 Tbps oil
3/4 c honey
2 eggs
2/3 c buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c chopped walnuts

1. preheat oven to 375 F. lightly grease a standard size 12 cup muffin tin.

2. in a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice; set aside. in a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin, oil, honey, eggs, buttermilk and vanilla. pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir together until just combined. fold in the chopped walnuts.

5. divide batter evenly between 12 standard sized muffin cups. bake 20-23 minutes in a preheated 375 F oven. muffins are done when they spring back lightly to the touch or when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

i’ve got something to admit: i’m not a big fan of muffins. i think the concept is great, but in execution, i’ve just been let down too many times by ones that are bland, dry and overwhelmingly huge (with the exception of my mom’s blueberry muffins – those are amazing). these particular ones right here, however, have brought me a new kind of joy and encouraged me to accept muffins back into my life without question.

the girl and i have been meaning to go apple picking all fall and we finally made it out to the countryside this past weekend. we ended up at rock hill orchard, a small farm in mount airy, MD. luckily, they still had plenty of apples to go around, as well as a big pumpkin patch.

we picked about 15 lbs of apples and the girl grabbed a pumpkin that we made into soup that night. it’s a great little farm with amazing hot apple cider (free samples!). this was the first time i had ever picked apples from a tree, and it’s incredible to actually see where your food comes from. it makes you want to only grow your own crops and never visit a supermarket again.

it’s a good thing we got so many apples because i plan on making a batch of these every weekend. they are that good. they will keep for a few days (i just kept them on a plate covered with plastic wrap), but will probably disappear sooner. i found myself eating them for breakfast, lunch and dinner (and as snacks) in a psychological game that played out with my taste buds asking my brain after each muffin, “why not have another? they’re so light and moist…and delicious…and yep, here we go, we’re eating another, oh god they are so good, why did we even bother asking you in the first place, brain?” my brain is clearly powerless in this situation.

apple muffins
makes 12 muffins. from King Arthur Flour recipes.

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1/2 cup butter at room temperature
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
2 apples, peeled, cored, and coarsely chopped (i used honey crisp, great this time of year)

1. in a small bowl, mix together the flours, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. in a large bowl, cream the butter, the white sugar and 1/4 cup of the brown sugar. add the egg and beat until fluffy.

2. mix in the buttermilk gently (don’t overmix or the buttermilk will curdle). stir in the flour mixture gently and fold in the apples.

3. pour the batter into 12 muffin cup liners, sprinkle with 1/4 cup brown sugar and bake at 450 F for 10 minutes. after 10 minutes, turn the oven down to 400 F and bake for another 15-20 minutes. allow the muffins to cool in the muffin tin for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.