Diabetic Pumpkin Muffins: Slightly Sweet

In in the U.S. we have a great seasonal tradition.  It kicks into gear around mid-September and lasts until sometime in late November.  You know it's coming, even though those parameters are vague.  And when it finally arrives, you spend fistfuls of five dollar bills so that you can revel in six weeks of creamy, sweet, spicy joy.

I speak of pumpkin spice latte season at Starbucks, of course.

With the fall drink treats Starbucks usually launches pumpkin muffins or slices of pumpkin cake, and it was those muffins that got me hooked on sweet winter squash baking.  Those puppies are the regular American coffee shop delight: Gargantuan, fluffy, full of sugar, and coated in icing.  They're cupcakes masquerading as breakfast, and despite the subterfuge I still remain devoted.

So devoted that I decided to try my hand at a home version last year.  It took a little while, but I found a recipe that I adored.  If you want to try it, head on over to Muffin Top.  I'm pretty sure you'll be as pleased with those sweet, fluffy gems as I was.

I say was, because I can't have any this year.


Instead, I had to get a little creative.  I took the pureed portion of my Hubbard squash and got busy in the kitchen last week.  I had to devise a way to make those fellas diabetic friendly, which meant cutting out most of the flour, sugar, and fat.  Doing this and still making an edible product was going to be an adventure, but I felt up to the task.  I set to improvising.

Once again, I replaced most of the flour with almond meal.  The eggs went by the wayside, and flax meal stepped in to give it body and hold.  Most crucially, I stole a trick from COOKS Illustrated to replace some of the sugar and oil.  They published a banana bread recipe last year that called for the fruit to be pre-roasted in the oven, the cooled and mashed into the bread mix.  This would intensify the sweetness, they promised, and reduce the need for added sugar.  So a roasted, pureed banana snuck into my muffin batter here, too, along with just a smidgen of canola oil and a little maple syrup for fun.  I stuck them into the oven, fingers crossed.

And darned if they didn't turn out just fine.

These aren't fluffy Starbucks muffins.  They're very moist, and dense, and if you eat one straight from the oven they have a gooey, almost molten center.  The banana flavor is there, but it's just an accent to the pumpkin and they do play nicely together.  These aren't definitely aren't going to knock you over with sweetness, but that probably won't happen in a diabetic dessert anyway.  Overall, it's a good treat for those counting carbs, and I'll make them again.

Heck, I'll even share the recipe.

*****

Diabetic Pumpkin Muffins, Slightly Sweet 

Makes 12 standard muffins

For printable version, click here.

[NOTE:  I'm trying something new with my recipes.  I've started inputting them at food.com  for nutrition information; the bonus is that they also offer an easy printable format there, too.  So if you'd like to have a nice, neat printed copy of the recipe, click the link above and it will take you there].

·  1 tablespoon granulated sugar

·  1 teaspoon cinnamon

·  2 tablespoons ground flax seeds

·  6 tablespoons water

·  1 cup almond meal

·  1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour

·  1 teaspoon baking powder

·  1/2 teaspoon baking soda

·  1/2 teaspoon salt

·  1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

·  1 cup pumpkin puree

·  1 banana, roasted and pureed*

·  1 tablespoon vegetable oil

·  2 tablespoons pure maple syrup

·  1/4 cup soy milk 

1. *To roast the banana: put banana, in the skin, on a baking sheet in a 375-400F oven for 10-15 minutes. The skin will turn black and the banana will be soft to the touch. Let cool, then peel and puree the flesh. One banana will yield about 1/4 C of puree. This freezes well if you'd like to do a bunch all at once.
2. For the muffins: Put oven rack in center slot and preheat oven to 350°F Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper cups.
3.  In a small bowl, combine cinnamon and sugar. Set aside.
4.  In another bowl, combine the ground flax seeds and water. Set aside for a few minutes and allow to thicken.
5.  In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients except for sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.
6.  In another bowl, whisk together all the wet ingredients, including the thickened flax/water mixture. Add this to the large bowl of dry ingredients. Stir until the flours are moistened; the mixture will be thick and gooey, not like most muffin batters you've seen. Just go with it.
7. Scoop 1/4 C measures of the batter into the lined muffin cups (an ice cream scoop is ideal for this). Sprinkle with the reserved cinnamon sugar mixture. You probably will not use it all.
8. Place in the preheated oven and bake for about 30 minutes, or until the muffins feel bouncy to the touch and a toothpick comes out mostly clean (centers will remain a little gooey). Let cool in the tins for 5 minutes, then turn out and finish cooling on racks. 

Final Notes:  These keep pretty well for two days at room temperature; after that I'd refrigerate or freeze them, since they're so moist they mold easily.  You'll have a crisp crust from the cinnamon-sugar on the first day; after that it will kind of melt into the muffin top and add a little extra soft sweetness to the treat.  The topping is great either way; Bean always ate her muffins top first.

Nutrition information:  Calories 107;  Total Fat 5.9 (Saturated Fat 0.5 g, Monounsaturated Fat 2.9 g, Polyunsaturated Fat 2.0 g, Trans Fat 0.0 g);  Cholesterol 0.0 mg;  Sodium 183.7 mg;  Total Carbohydrate 12.2 g;  Dietary Fiber 2.3;  Protein 3.0 g