Pumkin Ginger Muffins

2/3 C vegetable oil
2/3 C honey
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 C pumpkin (either canned or cooked and mashed)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4-1/2 tsp nutmeg
3 1/2 C whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 C hot water
1 C chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. and grease a 9x5 loaf pan
Mix oil, honey, eggs, vanilla, pumpkin and spices (cinnamon allspice, ginger, nutmeg) until well mixed.
Stir in flour and salt until just combined
Mix baking soda and hot water together, then add this mix to batter. Blend in nuts if desired.
Spread batter in pan (sprinkle the top with nuts if desired) and bake for 55-60 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes before slicing.

But wait! That's not muffins. That's bread.

Well yeah. But the recipe is actually enough to make one loaf of bread and something like 48 mini muffins. I have no idea how many regular muffins that makes.

Oh wait, google informs me that it is roughly 16 muffins. So that means that one recipe makes one of the following:

1 loaf of bread and 16 muffins
1 loaf of bread and 48 mini muffins
16 muffins and 48 mini muffins
96 mini muffins
32 muffins
2 loafs of bread

It's up to you.

Now, you may have noticed that in the picture there aren't any nuts. Nothing against nuts, but I prefer to have nuts on top of my bread and if you are making mini muffins there isn't much room on top. (although it would be pretty cute...hmmm. maybe next time) So I thought I'd try a glaze.

Maple Ginger Glaze

1 C water
1/2 tsp mapeleine (this is maple flavoring)
1/4-1/2 tsp ginger (depends on how gingery you want your glaze. I started with 1/4 and it was pretty mild.)
3 C powdered sugar
dash of salt

Mix this all together over heat. Let it come to a boil then turn the heat down. The cornstarch in the powdered sugar will make it thicken into a consistency similar to store bought syrup. This makes for sticky muffin tops (which you could easily take advantage of to stick nuts to or some coarse sugar) but if you don't want sticky then you could always decrease the amount of water.

Note: however much water you use will be roughly how much glaze you have. 1 Cup was way too much for my 48 mini muffins, but it is delightful on pancakes. Just store the extra in the fridge till you are ready for it and you are good to go.

Basic Whole Wheat Scones

This recipe is super adaptable. Add in all kinds of stuff. Zest some citrus fruits, add nuts, throw in some berries. Do what you want.

1.5-2 C Whole Wheat Flour
3 Tbs Sugar
1 Tbs Baking Powder
.5 tsp Salt
5 Tbs Chilled Butter
1 C Heavy Cream or Half and Half or Whole Milk

*Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
*Sift or whisk the dry ingredients together.
*Cut pats of butter into the dry ingredients and cut in. You want it fairly well mixed with only a few large lumps of butter.
*Add any add in's now.
*Add cream and stir till dough starts to hold together.
*Knead on counter to incorporate any flour that still hasn't mixed in. You want a slightly sticky ball.
*Form into scones by patting it into a square or circle roughly 8 or 9 inches and cut into 8 pieces.
*Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 11-13 minutes until tops are light brown.
*Cool for 10 minutes before you dig in.