First Day of School Pumpkin Muffins

Yesterday was the first day of school and accordingly I made first day of school muffins. Our family picked up the tradition muffins on the first day of school after reading the Betsy-Tacy series, one of my all-fime favorite series, which I will not stop gushing about. If you are fan of Anne of Green Gables or Little House on The Prarie you should buy it now. Start with Heaven to Betsy which is the beginning of Betsy’s high school years. (The younger years are great family read aloud book but not as compelling as the high school years.) After reading these book we adopted a lot of the same traditions as Betsy’s family. For years I tried to come up with my own special first-day-of-school-muffin recipe. But eventually my kids convinced me that the only muffins in the fall are pumpkin muffins.

This recipe comes from Mary Purser (the source of many delicious recipes). She shared this recipe with us when we lived in the Dallas. I can’t say how many batches of pumpkin muffins I’ve made in the past 17 years. My kids never tire of them. (Let’s face it they’re basically cookies for breakfast.) I almost always make them in mini muffin tins. I think they taste better this way and there’s more to share.

Have you read the Betsy-Tacy series? Do you have first day of school traditions? Have you ever picked up a new tradition or routine from a book?

Pumpkin Muffins

Combine:

• 3 cups sugar (yep, you read that right. Nutritionally, these are more like cookies.)

• 1 cup oil

• 1 can pumpkin (15 oz.)

• 4 eggs

Dissolve and add to above

• 2 teaspoons soda in

• 2/3 cup water

Combine in separate bowl and then mix in above:

• 3 1/2 cups flour (can do up to two cups with wheat flour)

• 1 teaspoons baking powder

• 2 teaspoons salt

• 1/2 teaspoons cloves

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1 teaspoon nutmeg

• 1 teaspoon allspice

Then mix in:

• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (or more than one cup)

Spoon batter into mini muffin pans coated generously with cooking spray. (You could be boring and put them in a regular tin or mini loafs, just be sure to adjust the baking time.)

Bake at 350º for 15-17 minutes.

This makes A LOT of muffins. You may want to refrigerate or freeze leftover batter. The batter lasts in the fridge up to a week and in the freezer for several months.