Midnight Muffin Madness VI

The madness continues with Nutty Pumpkin Muffins.  Even knowing that the next 2 weeks are muffin free didn't take the pressure off of making muffins for "Other People".  But since it's Fall, and the pumpkins are coming in, Nutty Pumpkin Muffins are just the ticket for Midnight Muffin Madness VI.

So - onto the muffins!

The wet: 1 3/4 cup pumpkin puree, 1 1/2 cup white sugar, 1 1/2 cup brown sugar, 4 eggs, 2/3 cup orange juice and 1 cup butter (melted and cooled).

The dry:  3 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves, 1/4 teaspoon allspice, 1/2 teaspoon ginger, 1 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 cup pecans (toasted), 1 cup raisins.

Okay, first things first.  Put the raisins in a little bowl and pour the orange juice on top of them so they get all plumped up with the orange juice (instead of turning into those little dried out nuggets of cement).  Set that aside.

Measure out the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, allspice, ginger and salt.

Whisk that all together so the spices are mixed in with the flour.  Even though the baking powder and baking soda aren't spices - they're chemical leaveners - but "chemical leavener" sounds so ... icky, even though it's just bicarbonate - a salt.  Let's just call them a spice and mix them about as well.

Anyway...

Strain the raisins out of the orange juice.  Hang on to the orange juice.  We'll add it to the wet ingredients.  Toss the raisins into the dry ingredients.

Chop up the pecans a bit to make them more bite sized and toss those in to the dry ingredients as well.

Give that a stir so the raisins and pecans get all coated with the flour mixture.  This way they will float in the muffin, not sink to the bottom.

Measure out all of the wet ingredients into a different bowl - adding the butter last.

Give it a good stir - and keep stirring - then stir it some more until all of the butter is mixed in.

Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture.  Give it a quick stir - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - done.

It's okay for bits of flour to be peeking out here and there.  It will all work out in the oven.

Scoop out the mixture into lined muffin tins.  Fill them until they're about 1/4-inch from the top of the tin.

Bake at 350-degrees for 25-30 minutes, then take them out of the muffin tin and put them on a rack to cool.

Make sure you put them towards the back of the counter or your little 4-pawed friend might just think that it's a treat for her!  (But none for her because they have raisins in them - very toxic - causes kidney failure.)