Pumpkin Walnut Raisin Muffins

Miss me? Its been a while! I was busy enjoying the amazing weather in the city this weekend.  Saturday was unbelievably beautiful and the great weather obviously brought me to Central Park for a nice long walk with the girls followed by an amazing Whole Foods picnic lunch on Sheep's Meadow. Sunday my sister and I decided to be children of the year and after an... eventful night... we voyaged to the Casino at the crack of dawn to surprise our Mom for Mother's day!   

This girl won big at Black Jack (thanks for your help dad!).  On the long trip back on the train I had plenty of time to commit to Tina's New Book!  She has some great advice and some amazingly easy recipes. 

While watching re-runs of desperate housewives I decided to finally use up the can of pumpkin in the cabinet that I got ages ago when I was on my pumpkin kick.  Tina goes on for quite some time about how fabulous these pumpkin muffins that she made were so I thought, what a better way to use the ingredient.  

Very simply recipe, which obviously makes everything better for me AND as you all know, I heart raisins and since those were incorporated I was good to go!  

I love raisins so much that my mom gave me one of those GIANT industrial size containers on Easter and its almost gone.  Nothing like some great trail mix and any cookie involving raisins to really make your raisin supply dwindle quickly!

Well now to this recipe.  My favorite kind of recipes are the ones were the steps are simple 1) put everything a bowl, 2) mix, 3) put in pan 4) bake.  This is one of those kind of recipes! 

Ingredients: (snagged from Tina)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup oats

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/4 cup canned pumpkin pie mix

1 egg

1 tbsp canola oil

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup raisins

1/4 cup walnuts

Steps: 

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

2) Coat muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray

3) Mix all ingredients into one big bowl with a spoon

4) Pour batter evenly into muffin tins.

5) Bake for 18-20 minutes.

These really hit the spot for me and I am not even really a pumpkin girl.  I bet they would  have been even better in the fall, I love to eat seasonal foods. 

I'd give these a Star Fabulous Rating of 6/10 because they are very delicious but I really do wish they were a smidge bigger! I bet they would be a solid 7/10 with some chocolate chips too.  Chocolate makes everything better (at least now a days, I am on a serious Chocolate binge!)

Star Fabulous Rating: 6/10