Oatmeal Pumpkin Muffins

Will left for a somewhat long TDY yesterday morning, so I'm just going to be over here drowning my loneliness and sorrows in pumpkin puree. I first tried looking on Pinterest for a suitable oatmeal pumpkin recipe, but they all called for ingredients I didn't seem to have on hand. Instead, I decided to take Kate's recipe (that I make all the time) and substitute pumpkin for water and VOILA! Same delicious muffin, with just a hint of pumpkin flavor, to mix it up when I'm not making pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. 

Speaking of Pinterest, every time I'd click on the recipe, I'd be all BLAH BLAH BLAH - GET TO THE RECIPE WOMAN!!!!! So without further ado . . . 

Ingredients: 

• 3 C oats
• 1 C pumpkin puree
• 1/2 C milk (of any kind!) 
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 C coconut oil
• 2 t vanilla extract
• 1/2 C sugar
• 2 t baking powder
• 1 t salt
• 1 t cinnamon (or pumpkin spice)
• [Somewhat] OPTIONAL: 3/4 C chocolate chips

Instructions: Preheat oven to 350. Oil a muffin tin (I just used canola oil spray). Mix the oats, pumpkin puree, milk, eggs, vanilla, and oil. In a separate bowl mix the sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Combine. Stir in chocolate chips. Bake for 20ish minutes or until the tops begin to brown. Let cool a little in the pan (otherwise they do fall apart easily when hot).

Notables:

// I sometimes substitute maple syrup (+ 1/4 C flour) for the refined sugar.

// Make sure the coconut oil is soft, if not in liquid form. Otherwise it doesn't blend evenly into the muffins and you get weird chunks in your muffins. Ask me how I know.

// Toddlers go nuts for this jam (ooohh, I'm totally gonna try and add nuts next time…).

// I always set aside a few muffins without chocolate chips for little Will. (See below.)

The end.

If you need me, I'll be eating pumpkin pastries, pregnant-sobbing, binging on Call the Midwife while the hubs is away. :D