Recipe: Pumpkin Blueberry Muffins

I love pumpkin bread and tend to eat it all year round. This is a recipe that I improvised out of necessity, using a Cooking Light recipe for pumpkin raisin muffins as a base. After I began the recipe, I realized that I had no raisins, but I did have a bag of frozen blueberries. I accommodated the additional moisture contained in the berries by reducing the amount of brown sugar, corn syrup, and oil. The original recipe contained 202 calories and 5.1 grams of fat per muffin. These should be a bit lighter.

Pumpkin Blueberry Muffins:

2 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry or bread flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tablespoon corn syrup or maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg, plus the whites of 2 large eggs (for a denser muffin, you can use 2 large eggs instead)
1 cup frozen blueberries
Cooking spray

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Coat a nonstick, 12-muffin pan with cooking spray.

Combine flour, spices, baking soda, and salt in a medium mixing bowl and whisk until combined.

In a separate mixing bowl, combine sugar, pumpkin, buttermilk, oil, corn syrup, vanilla and eggs. Mix with a whisk until combined.

Toss frozen blueberries in flour mixture and form a well in the center. Pour pumpkin mixture into the well. Stir until just combined. Spoon into muffin tin.

Bake until lightly browned on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean (about 20 minutes).