How to Make Martha Stewart's Pumpkin Doughnut Muffins with Your Crazy Children

I started cooking with Edie' pre-k class. In case I haven't mentioned it in a while, Stop & Shop is supporting our cooking this year. They keep me in grocery cards and I keep coming up with ideas for food to make with the kids. We are still working the pumpkin angle, because it's that time of year, so we made these terrific little pumpkin doughnut muffins from Martha Stewart. And yes, they do, indeed, taste like doughnuts, just in a muffin shape. Miraculous, really.

Before we made them in school, Lucy, Edie and I took a dry run at them. I hope you weren't planning to use our photos as a guide for how to make these little gems because that might be the least practical way to attack a recipe. Ever.


HOW TO MAKE PUMPKIN DOUGHNUT MUFFINS WITH YOUR CRAZY CHILDREN


First, the kids took all of their blue stools, the ones that usually sit around a big arts and crafts table, and put all of them up on the counter. When I asked why - stupid question really - they told me it looked like a palace and they were the palace chefs. I explained that all the stools lining the counter top prevented us from having any space to work. I thought this was reasonable. They looked at me like I had just said all that in Aramaic, you know, the language only Jesus speaks. Then, they ignored me until I stopped asking about the stools. I just gave up.


Yes, we cooked the entire recipe in a tangle of stools. Let's see if Martha can do that.


Then, the kids decided it would be fun to see if you could actually grate your tongue on the microplane spice grater. They took turns, passing it back and forth, licking it until someone bled. This little game ended in tears.


Finally, we got down to the business of baking. There was a lot more nutmeg in this recipe than I think Martha had intended.


Okay, seriously, we totally got into this nutmeg thing...


And we got pumpkin on our toe, which was both distressing and hilarious, but mostly hilarious.


And then, we were pretty sure it was awesome that our feet were covered in flour. Because that happens to you when you bake, right?...Your feet get covered in flour? Thought so.


And Edie cracked the eggs, while Lucy turned into Bossy McBossy Pants and micro-managed her every move.


Big sisters...help or hindrance? Jury is still out.


I think this is where they decided we were making a cauldron of witches brew. We practiced our witch cackle while we took turns stirring.


Then, I turned my back to wash a dish, you know, to get a little ahead of the mess, and what happened? Lucy used a whole stick of butter to grease the cupcake tins.


And then, she made a cupcake totally out of butter. Not surprisingly, the cupcakes practically leaped out of the tins after baking.


Okay, Kim. You can do it. Almost done. Patience. This is where I have to say little mantras to myself to keep from losing my mind. They are good children...let them bake...they are having fun...who cares about the mess...just forget that you'll be in the kitchen for the next two hours scraping muffin dough off the floor with a box cutter...it's all for the kids....


And voila. Somehow we get something that resembles a muffin. That everyone admires, but no one actually eats, except me, who thinks these little muffins rock, but I know how much sugar and butter is in them, so that doesn't rock.


We end up taking plates of muffins to the neighbors. Sigh.

xo YM
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Pumpkin Doughnut Muffins
From Every Day Food with Martha Stewart

Ingredients - Muffins

10 T unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp coarse salt
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 1/4 cups pure pumpkin puree (from a 15 oz. can)
3/4 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs

Ingredients - Sugar Coating

3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted


Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350. Butter and flour 12 standard muffin cups or 24 mini-muffin cups.

2. Make batter: In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and allspice. In a small bowl whisk together buttermilk and pumpkin puree. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, scraping down bowl as needed. With mixer on low, add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with two additions pumpkin mixture and beat to combine.

3. Spoon 1/3 cup batter into each muffin cup and bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean, 30 minutes. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine granulated sugar and cinnamon. Let muffins cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack. Working with one at a time, remove muffins from pan, brush all over with melted butter, then toss to coat in sugar mixture. Let muffins cool completely on a wire rack. (Store in airtight container up to 1 day.) Makes somewhere between 12 and 24 muffins, depending on size.