Every baker has a bad day in the kitchen from time to time. Last week I was so excited to try some fluffy, buttery biscuits after spending the previous week in the South. I swear, every time I’m fortunate enough to be down there, I could melt (literally and figuratively) with bliss. The humidity takes a little adjusting to, but when you have a beach right there, coupled with the salty ocean breeze, it’s no big deal. I’ve decided that beach walking is good for my soul…if only I could make it happen more!
Our whole family got to hang out for an entire week and just relax. It was really wonderful. So when it was time to part ways, I was sad, but then again, there are far worse places to return to right?
Back in Vail, I was pleased that I hadn’t miss the turning of the aspen trees. They’re much later this year than last; as of today we still don’t have many gold leaves yet.
But anyways, I was hoping to turn out a batch of super-high, fluffy, tender biscuits. How grandly they’ll go with a tale from my recent trip south, I had thought. The kitchen had other plans.
In time, I will have a perfected biscuit, just not today. Fortunately, the failure was quickly forgotten by another kitchen success- these whole wheat pumpkin muffins.
I found a recipe for whole wheat muffins from King Arthur Flour, and decided to use it as the backbone for creating these ones. Yes, there are no eggs in this recipe, and yes, they are very moist and spongy. The white whole wheat flour makes them hearty and a small quantity of sugar ensures that they are not too sweet.
You could easily replace the oil with applesauce for good results, as well. I sprinkled the tops of mine with maple sugar. I think these muffins would also work when made with Cup4Cup flour substitute. The baking time would be a little longer.
Happy baking!
For some other Fall favorites, try these High Altitude Bakes recipes:
Pumpkin Crumb Bars
Pumpkin Crumble Muffins
Vanilla-Scented Butternut Squash Quick Bread
Whole Wheat Apple Bundt Cake
Apple Breton Pie
Spice Layer Cake with Maple Meringue
Zucchini Cakes with Brown Sugar Icing
Snickerdoodle Cookies
How to make this high altitude adjusted recipe:
Whole Wheat Pumpkin Muffins
Loosely adapted from King Arthur Flour
- 2¼ cups white whole wheat flour
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ tablespoon vanilla
- ½ cup sugar
- 1½ tablespoons molasses
- ⅓ cup safflower (or canola) oil
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1¼ cups canned pumpkin
- maple sugar for sprinkling on tops, optional
- Preheat your oven to 350 F.
- Grease or place paper liners in a standard 12-compartment muffin tin.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the white whole wheat flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon.
- In another bowl, whisk together the vanilla, sugar, molasses, oil, buttermilk, and canned pumpkin.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and folding gently with a spatula, mix the batter until just combined.
- Portion the batter into the prepared muffin cups.
- Sprinkle the tops with maple sugar, if desired.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until the tops are domed and spring back in the center when lightly touched.
- Makes 12 muffins.
Note: This recipe was adjusted for high altitude baking. To make at sea level, increase the baking powder to 1 teaspoon, and the baking soda to 1/2 teaspoon.
