Very Moist Cranberry Pumpkin Muffins (Bobby Flay)

Among a few Bobby Flay's pumpkin recipes that I have been researching, I can't help to notice this mix-and-bake pumpkin bread which seems to be golden standard pumpkin bread to bake.

After analysing the recipe in details, I realise that one 9-inch loaf of Bobby Flay's pumpkin bread recipe found at Food Network or Epicurious or CBS news typically contains:

• 1/2 cup oil or butter or mixture, melted or soften
• 1 cup, 250ml pumpkin puree
• 2 eggs
• 1 3/4 cup, 260g all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• ground spices like cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg

Guess what? This recipe is so typical that even this highly rated William-Sonoma pumpkin bread has the exact composition too. This recipe is so versatile that I can bake it as muffins. The bread is great too with addition of 1 cup of ANYTHING! I mean ANYTHING yummy like toasted walnuts or pecans or dried fruits like dates or also cranberry.

Not good enough? According to this recipe at the Food Network, this humble pumpkin can be transformed into a fanciful pudding by baking it with custard and serving it with crème anglaise and spicy caramel apple sauce. I saw that Pioneer Woman has baked this Bobby Flay's pumpkin bread pudding too and she said that she likes it!

I have no doubt at all that this highly reputable recipe is really good and so I have used this golden standard recipe to bake into these cranberry pumpkin muffins...

Cranberry Pumpkin Muffins baked with Bobby Flay's recipe

For a good balance of texture and taste, I have used a mixture of melted butter and rice bran oil.

This is absolutely NO FUSS baking these muffins...

... all I did is mix ...

... and bake!

Look how moist are these muffins!

Please pardon me for giving this recipe a minor healthy tweak. I have reduced the amount of added sugar from 300g to 150g. Although I'm a sweet-tooth person, I think that the sweetness of these muffins is truly good enough for me. Maybe the addition of butternut pumpkin has given these muffins a lot of natural sweetness... plus extra fiber and beautiful moist muffin texture. As a mum, I would highly recommend baking these healthy bakes for lunchboxes especially for kids.

Here's the that is mostly adapted from Epicurious or CBS news

Makes one 9 inch loaf or 12 standard size muffins
1 3/4 cups (or 260g) all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
60g unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1/4 cup (or 60ml) vegetable oil, preferable rice bran oil
150g caster sugar (original is 1 1/2 cup)
1 cup (250ml) pumpkin puree (I'm using butternut pumpkin, steamed and mashed)
2 large eggs
1 cup dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 350°F or 160°C fan forced. Line a 9 inch loaf pan or a 12-hole muffin tray with baking paper or muffin cups.

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg.

Using a hand whisk, whisk butter, oil and sugar together in another separate mixing bowl until combined.

Add the pumpkin puree and mix until combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix until just incorporated. Sift in flour mixture and mix until just combined. Note: At this stage, the recipe at Epicurious mentioned an addition of 2/3 cup water but the others didn't and I didn't add any water.

Spread the batter into the prepared pan or muffin cups and bake until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean and my muffins were baked for 25 mins. Let cool in the pan or tray on a wire rack for 10 mins. Remove from the pan and let cool completely.

Happy Baking
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