Pumpkin muffins made lighter and Weight Watchers friendly with 216 calories and 9 WW Freestyle SmartPoints.
Prep Time15 minutesmins
Cook Time25 minutesmins
Total Time40 minutesmins
Servings: 12
Calories: 216
Author: Martha | Simple Nourished Living
Ingredients
2cupsall-purpose flour
2teaspoonsbaking powder
¼teaspoonbaking soda
¼teaspoonsalt
1teaspoonground cinnamon
½teaspoonground ginger
⅛teaspoonfreshly grated nutmeg
Pinchground allspice
¼cupunsalted butter, at room temperature
¾cuplight brown sugar, packed
2largeeggs
1teaspoonvanilla extract
1cupcanned unsweetened pumpkin puree
¾cuplow-fat buttermilk
½cupmoist plump golden raisins, dried cranberries, or a combination
¼cupchopped pecans or walnuts
¼cupunsalted raw sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, or a combination for topping
Instructions
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400F degrees. Butter or spray a 12-cup regular-size muffin pan or place paper liners in the muffin cups.
In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices and set it aside.
In a large bowl, beat the butter with an electric mixer at medium speed until soft. Add the brown sugar and continue to beat until light and smooth. Add the eggs one at a time and then continue to beat for another minute after the eggs have been incorporated. Beat in the vanilla.
Lower the mixer speed and mix in the pumpkin and buttermilk. With the mixer at low speed, add the flour mixture in a steady stream, beating only until they disappear. (To avoid over mixing, you can stop the machine early and stir any remaining dry ingredients into the batter using a rubber spatula.) Stir in the raisins and/or dried cranberries and nuts.
Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and sprinkle a few sunflower seeds and/or pumpkin seeds over the top of each muffin.
Bake for about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean.
Transfer the pan to a rack and cool the muffins in the pan for 5 minutes, then carefully remove each muffin from its cup and transfer them to a rack to finish cooling.