The Pioneer Woman's Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Today I thought I would share a recipe from my absolute favorite blog ever - The Pioneer Woman. The author, Ree, is, in her own words, "an accidental country girl" and her anecdotes of life on a cattle ranch are hilarious. If you haven't visited before, you should definitely check it out.

In addition to stories about life on the ranch, Ree also has a section on her website dedicated to cooking. I have found so many awesome recipes there. Without fail, whenever I cook one of her recipes, it is a huge hit, even with my picky family (myself being the pickiest). She never steers me wrong. But my absolute favorite thing about her recipes is that she takes pictures of EVERY STEP. So helpful for kitchen disasters like me!

Last year she released her first cookbook and it is FABULOUS.

Okay, now that you have been introduced to Ree, I'm going to share one of my favorite fall recipes -
Moist Pumpkin Spice Muffins with Cream Cheese Frosting

Prep Time: 20 Minutes
Cook Time: 25 Minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Servings: 12

Ingredients

• Muffin Ingredients:
• 1 cup All-purpose Flour
• ½ cups Sugar
• 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1-½ teaspoon Cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoons Ground Ginger
• ½ teaspoons Nutmeg
• ½ teaspoons Salt
• 4 Tablespoons Butter, cut into pieces
• 1 cup (heaping) Pumpkin Puree
• ½ cups Evaporated Milk
• 1 whole Egg
• 1-½ teaspoon Vanilla
• ½ cups Golden Raisins (optional!)
• _____
• Topping
• 2 Tablespoons Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoons Nutmeg
• _____
• FOR FROSTING:
• ¼ cups Softened Butter
• 4 ounces, weight Cream Cheese
• ½ pounds Powdered Sugar
• ½ teaspoons Vanilla

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Generously grease 12 muffin tins.

Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Cut in butter with two knives or a pastry blender until it is fully incorporated. In a separate bowl, mix together pumpkin, evaporated milk, egg, and vanilla. Pour pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture. Add raisins. Fold gently until mixture is just combined.

Pour into a greased muffin pan—batter hardly ever fills all twelve unless you keep it down to 1/2 full. Sprinkle with remaining cinnamon-sugar-nutmeg mixture over the top of each unbaked muffin.

Bake for 25 minutes. Allow to cool in pan for 15 minutes, then remove and allow to cool. Ice with cream cheese frosting.

To make the frosting, mix all ingredients on high until soft and whipped. Spread onto completely cooled muffins, or place into a large pastry bag with a large star tip and go crazy! Store in the fridge, as icing will soften at room temperature.

If you'd like to see the original recipe, complete with pictures of each step, click here.

Enjoy!