It is always nice when you find a recipe that people really connect with. That is the case with our newest muffin. We are debuting this recipe during the spring for a limited run as a morning bakery option and will be bringing it back next fall.
Growing up I had two favorite, special baked goods that I thought were so delicious. One is the the coffee cake (which is profiled in a separate page) and the other was pumpkin bread. Every fall when I bake up a batch at home, the smell takes me back... things like that can make you smile. We would bake that recipe in loaf pans, muffins, and sometimes add chocolate chips. I loved to make pumpkin bread so much, I would insist on baking up a batch to take with us when we visited my grandparents down on Long Island for Thanksgiving, thinking that it was a great addition to the table. My family and I may have been the only ones eating it but it was always welcomed.
The recipe that I grew up with, though it can be baked into muffins, is mixed using the "quick bread" style and has a texture more similar to our Banana Bread than a traditional muffin. For this muffin we have used a different recipe, one that has a much more delicate texture. Abbie, a student in her sophomore year, was the one that I asked to perfect the recipe. Over the course of a couple days we have the final product that we are exceptionally happy with. I have included both recipes below. I think they are delicious. My students do too!