Pumpkin Squash Cranberry-Walnut Muffins
By: Maureen Cavanau...
Published: Saturday, July 24, 2010 - 8:44am

Ingredients




2 cups of baked pumpkin squash 
1 stick butter  
2 eggs 
1 cup sugar 
1 1/4 cup flour 
1/2 teaspoon salt 
1 teaspoon baking soda 
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 
1 teaspoon vanilla 
1/2 cup chopped walnuts 
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Preparation

1 Preheat oven 350 degrees. 2 Spray muffin pan (or one loaf pan for bread) with olive oil spray. 3 Place dry ingredients in a medium bowl. 4 Mix and set aside. 5 Whip eggs in a small bowl. 6 Add vanilla and blend. Set aside. 7 Chop walnut coarsely. Set aside. 8 Place sugar and butter in a large bowl. 9 Blend with an electric blender on medium speed until creamy. 10 Add egg mixture a little at a time incorporating until smooth. 11 Add pumpkin squash, allowing for a few chunks to remain. (Mixture will look slightly curdled-no worries.) Remove mixer. 12 Fold dry mixture into wet mix until incorporated. 13 Fold in walnuts and cranberries. 14 Scoop mixture into muffin (ice cream scoop works best). 15 Bake 30 minutes in top half of oven. 16 Remove from oven. 17 Pop muffins on side in muffin pan to cool. Enjoy!

About


My 4x12 garden plot at the Primrose Community garden in Orlando is being taken over by two wandering Seminole pumpkin squash plants. Harvest for pumpkin squash is still about fourty days away, but one of my delightful little babies got a catapillar or two. At the advice of the garden manager, Tia, I snipped the three pound, slightly greenish-orange pumpkin from its stalk. I brought it home for a good soaking, trimmed the desicated area, sliced it in half and baked it for an hour. The moist, orange flesh became the base for my muffins.