Last Thanksgiving I had some cooked pumpkin left over after making some pies, so in an effort not to waste any food, I mashed some of the pieces and used a cupful to make muffins. They were so good that I made them again a few times but used cooked winter squash.
Even better!
Those muffins came in really handy for breakfast when I had sleepover guests for New Year’s weekend.
These are delicious with the streusel top — a nice nosh with afternoon tea or coffee — but they’re good plain too (just make them without the streusel).
Squash Streusel Muffins
Streusel:
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup quick cooking or rolled oats
2 tablespoons white sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening or solid coconut oil, cut into chunks (butter if desired)
Place the flour, oats, sugar and salt in a bowl and mix ingredients to distribute them evenly. Add the shortening and work it into the dry ingredients with fingertips or a pastry blender until the mixture looks like coarse meal. Set aside.
Batter:
1 cup mashed, cooked squash (canned pumpkin is fine)
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup oat milk (or other dairy or nondairy milk)
2 large eggs
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon grated fresh nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 10 muffin pan wells. Combine the mashed squash, white sugar, brown sugar, vegetable oil, oat milk and eggs in a large bowl and whisk the ingredients for 1-2 minutes or until thoroughly blended. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger and add the mixture to the squash mixture. Whisk or mix the ingredients for 1-2 minutes or until thoroughly blended. Spoon equal amounts of the batter into the prepared wells. Sprinkle equal amounts of the streusel on top of each muffin. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
Makes 10
