« Recipe: Butternut Squash Oat Muffins with Candied Ginger »

Butternut Squash Oat Muffins with Candied Ginger

Adapted from The NY Times Dining and Wine Section, Melissa Clark

Yield: 18 muffins*

Ingredients

1 c all- purpose flour

2/3 c whole-wheat flour

1/2 c oats

1/3 c light brown sugar

1 T baking powder

1 t fine sea salt

1 t ground cinnamon**

1/4 t nutmeg

Zest of one lemon

2 large eggs, room temperature

1/2 c Greek yogurt, room temperature

10 T unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 1/2 c shredded butternut squash***

1/4 c finely chopped candied ginger****

Instructions

Heat oven to 375 degrees; grease muffin tins (alternatively, line muffin tins with paper cups)

In a large bowl, combine the flours, oats, sugar, baking powder, salt, spices and lemon zest. In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, Greek yogurt, melted butter and maple syrup.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and gently stir with a rubber spatula until almost combined -- the batter will be very thick. Then fold in the shredded squash and candied ginger.

Spoon the batter into the muffin tins. Bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until muffins are golden and a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.

Cool 5 minutes in the pan before turning muffins onto a wire cooling rack.

Notes:

*The original recipe stated that the recipe makes 1 dozen muffin. I filled the muffin tins quite high, and had enough for 18 muffins. Recipe could easily stretch to 2 dozen.

** I thought that 1 t of cinnamon was a little heavy handed -- but I am not a big cinnamon fan. The amount could certainly be reduced to 1/2 t in my opinion

***Despite its' difficult reputation, butternut squash is a very manageable vegetable to peel and deconstruct. I used a carrot peeler to remove the skin and a food processor to grate it. (And don't throw out the seeds. Toss with a little olive oil, sea salt and fresh rosemary -- and roast for about 10 minutes. Utterly addictive!) 

****Golden raisins would be a nice substitution