Pumpkin & Plum

Welcome to my cellar door! 

I absolutely love everything about the fall. The weather, the gloom, the clothes, the fruit and not to mention the great variety of pumpkin beer I can find everywhere. For the eve of Halloween, the boy and I went for a brisk night ride aka booze run, and I decided to go with Oak Jacked Imperial Pumpkin Ale by Uinta Brewing. It has all the body of a dark ale, accompanied with the torment of a thousand smashed jack-o-lanterns being trapped in oak barrels. 

Besides the beloved autumn pumpkin, I adore all fruits in this season. I recently was give a whole case of persimmons from a personal backyard, and I am so excited to make all kinds of creations with them, but unfortunately I have to wait until they are fully ripened and soft to even think about baking with them. But that won't stop me! I love baking, especially when I can use anything and everything I have just sitting around my pantry and fridge. I hate seeing things go to waste, so when things are about to go bad and be thrown out why not whip them into something nummy? I had about 4 plums I forgot about in the fridge and decided to make some sugar crusted plum muffins. I found the recipe here, but added my own extra ingredients to it.

Here is what I used: 

3/4 cup & 2 tbsp sugar

1 tsp cinnamon, halved

2 cups flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp nutmeg

~4 ground whole cloves

2 eggs, room temperature

1 tsp bourbon vanilla extract

3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup light butter with canola oil. melted and then cooled

4 ripe plums, pitted and cut into small pieces

To Do:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Spray (or use liners if you have them) your muffin pan.
3. In a bowl, combine 3/4 cup sugar, half of the cinnamon, flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cloves.
4. In another bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, vanilla, and melted butter.
5. Fold the egg mixture into the flour mixture until evenly smooth.
6. Depending on how big your muffin pan is (mine is a mini-muffin pan), pour only half the batter you normally would into each. Use an ice cream scoop instead of a spoon to make your life a whole lot easier. 
7. Add a layer of the plum pieces to each.
8. Pour the remaining batter (you should have half of it left) on top of the plums into each.
9. Combine 2 tbsp sugar and 1/2 tsp cinnamon together and sprinkle over all the muffins in the pan.
10. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. They should look golden brown on the top (and smell phenomenal).

Make sure you let them cool at least 5 to 10 minutes before trying to get them out of the pan! They will crumble and die, and that is a guarantee. 

And enjoy!

-Lori