Best Ever Pumpkin Muffins

So it's fall now! Time for lots of cooking and baking and family. Don't worry, I'm here to help! Below is a recipe for pumpkin muffins made entirely from scratch--with REAL pumpkin! It's a bit of a pain to use real pumpkin, but it does add that little bit of a "wow!" factor for family and friends. Of course, everyone's different, and not everyone has the patience needed to manually dissect and mutilate a pumpkin. For those of you can't, a single canned pumpkin should work, but since I've never tried, I couldn't say for sure.

16oz pumpkin
4 eggs
2c sugar
1tsp vanilla
1 1/4c veggie oil
3c flour
2tsp baking soda
2tsp baking powder
2tsp cinnamon
2tsp nutmeg
2tsp ginger
1tsp salt

PUMPKIN
1.) Cut the pumpkin in half. Scoop out the seeds and the guts. Make sure you get ALL the stringy guts out! This stuff can seriously clog up your mixer! You can bake the pumpkin seeds with garlic, butter, barbecue, or anything else you might like. Keep the temp low though, they burn easy.

2.) Cut the shell into little pieces and shave off the orange skin. This is arguably the most difficult part of the whole process.

3.) Toss the pieces into a large pot of water and boil for 20 minutes or until they get soft.

4.) Drain and mash, like making mashed potatoes. A medium pumpkin will produce four or more cups.

MUFFINS
1.) Mix eggs, oil, sugar, pumpkin, and vanilla til it's smooth and creamy.

2.) Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl, and slowly mix into the batter.

3.) Fill the muffin tray cups up 3/4 full

4.) Bake at approx. 400 deg F for 16-20 minutes.

As with any recipe, it is what you make of it! Add or take away as you see fit, make it your own. Personally, I like to make cinnamon butter (2 sticks butter, 1/2 cup white sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 2 tbsp butter) and spread it on the muffin while it's still hot. Mmmmm....Some people might like to add walnuts, others might like to add chocolate chips. Whatever floats your boat! Anyway, take them with you to Thanksgiving dinner, or bake them for your son's Kiddie Football team, or for your daughter's Girl Scouts bake sale, or just for the heck of it! If you'd like to, I've found that getting the kids involved in preparation and baking is a good way to engage them and get them involved in the holiday spirit. And who knows? Maybe you'll inspire a lifetime love of cooking.