Sweet Potato Muffins

If you've browsed around Mommy Marginalia at all, you've probably caught on that I've got a thing for muffins.  I've also got a thing for any muffin recipe I can make using only a whisk (i.e. can be made at naptime or after Moose has gone to bed without interrupting any precious sleep).  So when I was trolling the Green Market Baking Book for some seasonal ideas for this week's menu and saw the recipe for Sweet Potato Bread, I thought I'd take a whack at adapting the recipe to make muffins (and with a few other tweaks to reflect my baking preferences - which sounds sort of haughty now that I've written it, but really boils down to a) I had mandarins, not oranges already in the house; b) I had pumpkin pie spice already in the house; and c) I don't like using vegetable oil but do not like the taste that olive oil imparts on sweeter baked goods).

The original recipe makes one 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 loaf, so I expected to yield only 12 muffins (a few of the mixes I've tried from Trader Joe's lately make one 9 x 5 loaf or 12 muffins).  I was thrilled to discover that, instead, this recipe makes 24 muffins!  So not only do I have a muffin for the week, I also got to indulge my new freezer cooking obsession.

Sweet Potato Muffins
Adapted from the Green Market Baking Book

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 2 teaspoons diced mandarin orange peel
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup butter, melted (1 stick)
• 2 cups sweet potato puree
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups maple syrup

1. Preheat oven to 400F.  Prepare muffin tins with liners or spray with non-stick spray (I like Pam baking spray).
2. In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients, including mandarin peel.
3. In a small bowl, combine the wet ingredients.
4. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients.  Stir until just blended.
5. Fill 24 muffin tin wells with the batter.
6. Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in a center muffin comes out clean.
7. Cool muffins in the tins for 5 minutes, then turn them out onto wire baking racks and continue cooling.

If you want to freeze some (or all), I recommend wrapping each individually in plastic wrap and sealing in a freezer bag.

I think they turned out delightfully well! Although, if I'm honest, they're a bit more sweet bread-y than truly muffin-y.  (Not that that's a bad thing!) I think next time to up the nutrition and cut down the guilt factor, I'll try replacing some of the butter with applesauce and cutting the maple syrup.