My almost 8-year-old daughter has wanted to make some cupcakes for awhile, but she insisted that she wanted to use her own recipe, not an existing one somewhere. In other words, she wanted to make up her own recipe. So today's So-Good Pumpkin Mini-Muffins are her creation!
I always get a little alarmed when she proposes something like that because it could simply end in a big waste of ingredients. And a mess. But she insisted, and when she began to tell me about some of the ingredients she might use, I thought it sounded plausible.
Aster adds some flour to begin her baking adventure.
So, we agreed to proceed. I warned her ahead of time that baking is very precise, things need to interact in just such a way, and that this could turn out to be an absolute dud. Still, she wanted to press forward.
I was heartened when the batter began to resemble batter, nice and pumpkiny!
A few weeks ago, we had made some cookies, and they were kind of lackluster… I mean, I think they weren’t mixed up well because I had one or two the cookies that tasted not half bad, but some of the others were just too caramelized as if the mixture hadn’t been mixed enough.
🙋 FAQ
Pumpkins are a popular crop for Amish farmers. Families work together on harvesting them. A horse-drawn cart will usually go through the fields, with boys tossing pumpkins up into the cart while the girls then pile them up.
Still, on this one, I wanted Aster to be completely in charge. I told her I would only offer advice if I thought she was absolutely heading into territory that would make the recipe fail. Still, I didn’t even want to speak then unless absolutely necessary because that would be a teaching moment if the recipe did fail, so I vowed to keep a very hands-off approach.
Now, I will say, that Aster wanted to make cupcakes, and I know some people will say cupcakes and muffins are pretty much the same things, but not in my mind. To me, a cupcake is a light fluffy cake, topped with frosting. What Aster ended up with, in my mind, is more of a muffin. Denser. But, I will say, these turned out superb. As a muffin. SIGH, I ended up eating three of them when they came out of the oven.
Aster also wanted to make frosting, but I will say that these muffins do great without frosting. She and I both agreed that they make a great breakfast without frosting and a delicious dessert with. She came up with the frosting, but I did have to doctor it up a bit to finish it out And the final version was great. I really think these So-Good Pumpkin Mini-Muffins turned out super so I'm proud to post. Oh, and we ended up filling the cupcake tins half way and called them mini-muffins, but you can fill them up all the way and get full muffins, just bake a few minutes longer if you do that.
🎃 So-Good Pumpkin Mini-Muffins
- 10 ounces canned pumpkin
- 2 cups flour
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 2 cups of milk
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
📋 Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together flour, brown sugar, and milk.
- Then add pumpkin, reserving ⅓ a can for the frosting.
- Stir in eggs, vanilla, and baking soda.
- Spoon into greased muffin tins half full for mini-muffins, full for regular muffins.
- Bake for 20 minutes for mini-muffins, 25 for regular-sized
- Makes 18 mini muffins, or 12 regular-sized.
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups whipped cream cheese
- 5 ounces of canned pumpkin
- Dash of vanilla
- 3 – 4 cups of powdered sugar
📋 Instructions
- Melt butter
- In a large mixing bowl combine butter and powdered sugar.
- Add pumpkin, whipped cream cheese, and rest of ingredients.
- Add more powdered sugar if needed.
- Spread onto cooled muffins
🎃 Amish Recipes With Pumpkin
Sour Cream Pumpkin Coffeecake
🖨️ Full Recipes
So-Good Pumpkin Mini-Muffins With Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
- 10 ounces canned pumpkin
- 2 cups flour
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 2 cups milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups whipped cream cheese
- 5 ounces of canned pumpkin
- Dash of vanilla
- 3 – 4 cups of powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together flour, brown sugar, and milk.
- Then add pumpkin, reserving ⅓ a can for the frosting.
- Stir in eggs, vanilla, and baking soda.
- Spoon into greased muffin tins half full for mini-muffins, full for regular muffins.
- Bake for 20 minutes for mini-muffins, 25 for regular-sizedMakes 18 mini muffins, or 12 regular-sized
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting (optional)
- Melt butter
- In a large mixing bowl combine butter and powdered sugar.
- Add pumpkin, whipped cream cheese, and rest of ingredients.
- Add more powdered sugar if needed.
- Spread onto cooled muffins
Melissa Hardesty
Fantastic muffins!!!! Good job girls!!! Thank you for always making our family smile and reliving memories
Her
Yuck, you need to teach your girls to pull their hair up when they do anything with cooking. My granny wiuld have a fit!
Kevin Williams
SIGH, yeah, I suppose you are correct. This was sort of a spontaneous, spur-of-the-moment activity and this wasn't a dish to take anywhere, just for us, so wasn't a big deal, but I'll keep that in mind!
Aunt Jackie
I’m going to make these for my nieces and nephews. I will need to make 7 mini’s and 8 full size for their parents. I will also make the frosting, but leave it in a bowl for them to decide. They are not real sweet lovers, unlike me. I’m sure they will enjoy them either way.
Your daughter is smart and creative. Bless her heart. Glad you are there to coach. We all need encouraging helpful advice. Thanks for the trust and love you instill into her. She will go far in her many other adventures throughout her life, because of your Love and support. Thanks!!!
Kevin Williams
Enjoy, Jackie, the muffins are really good!
Peggy
That is great that your daughter Aster is wanting to experiment and make her own recipe. Most of my recipes came from experimenting. My gramamom and mother didn’t use recipes but made their own. Such fun and sweet memories you are making. They sound and look delicious. They definitely will be sweet with 2 cups of brown sugars.
Kevin Williams
Hi, Peggy, yeah, you'd think they'd be super sweet, but, surprisingly, I thought they came out just right....not too sweet, not too "dull"....I wonder what she'll come up with next!
Jackie
You and your daughter are fine. Some people need to look at and take care of their own problems and leave others alone. For example learning to spell.