I had leftover Kabocha squash puree in my fridge and had to use it up.  I decided to look for a pumpkin muffin and substitute the kabocha instead of the pumpkin puree since they are pretty interchangeable in baked goods.  A quick search showed this Smitten Kitchen post that I decided to tackle.

The original post calls for a cinnamon sugar topping, but an accident when I was reading the ingredient list led me to add the cinnamon to the batter instead.  Since I didn’t want to add more cinnamon on top in case it was going to be too spicy, I just put the sugar on top.  That ended up being a bad idea because the sugar ended up in this weird circle on top of all of the muffins.  I lightly scraped it off but the tops looked messed up so I sprinkled some powdered sugar on top to mask the mess.  It was a happy accident because the muffins ended up being perfectly spiced with the extra cinnamon in them, and the powdered sugar makes them look so pretty.

Kabocha Squash Muffins
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups of gluten free flour mix
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 cup kabocha squash puree
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• powdered sugar for topping, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Put liners in muffin tin.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg together.

In a large bowl, stir together the kabocha puree, oil, eggs, and sugar until well combined.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir well.

Divide the batter between the muffin liners, filling them approximately 3/4 of the way full.  Put them in the oven and bake 25-30 minutes until golden and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Cool in the pan on a rack for a few minutes and then turn the muffins out to cool.  Once they have cooled a bit, about 20 minutes, you can sprinkle some powdered sugar over them if desired.