Pumpkin Muffins, I like mine “spicy” with lower fat, lower sugar and a touch of protein. I want all that without jeopardizing texture or taste. Because .. who wants a ho-hum muffin? I call them Kentucky Pumpkin Muffins because they are my muffins and I’m from Kentucky. There isn’t any secret “Kentucky” ingredient so you can make them and eat them in any state or any country, but of course!

Grab a bowl, a spoon and let’s make some muffins. These are mixed by hand, so no mixer required. Get your muffin tin lined with 12 cupcake liners – paper, foil or my favorite, reusable silicone. Now we are ready!

• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 5 – 6 oz container of plain Greek yogurt
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp. ground allspice
• 1/2 tsp. ground coriander
• 3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 2/3 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup all purpose or bread flour
• 1/2 cup water
• 3 scoops collagen peptides powder ** (optional, but adds extra nutrition)

Mix yogurt and sugar; stir in pumpkin and eggs; mix in spices, soda, powder & salt; Mix in flour, water and collagen if using. Fill 12 muffin cups evenly with the mixture. Optional: Mix a TB of brown sugar and 2 TB of crushed pecans together and sprinkle on top of the muffin mixture before baking. Bake at 350 F for approximately 30 minutes. Ovens vary, keep and eye on them after 20 minutes. Remove muffins to a cooling rack. ENJOY! The flavors are enhanced by letting the muffins cool before eating. Alternatively, you can make pumpkin bread by using a loaf pan instead of a muffin tin.

NOTE: I think that you can easily substitute oat flour in this recipe. I do that a lot, but haven’t tried it yet with this recipe. I don’t like to bake with almond flour, but if you have experience with it, give it a try. You can use a recipe builder in Apps such as LoseIt! to get nutrition stats for any recipe that you create. By my calculations & my ingredients, with the pecan topping, each muffin has: 176 calories, 35 g sodium, 33 g carb, 2 g fiber, 7 g protein, 2 g fat.

Stay HEALTHY. Be STRONG. Get AFTER IT!