Spiced Sweet Potato Muffins

Yesterday I said that I was going to bake pumpkin muffins. Well, I lied. It wasn't intentional, but I did tell you a lie. 

First of all, I ran out of time to bake anything yesterday because I got carried away with my heart mug rug. The little problem I was having is solved, by the way, and just thinking about it makes me smile. I'll be posting that very soon. 

In my excitement, I totally forgot the baking until I was getting ready for bed. It became a goal for today. I tied on my apron and I was all set to bake up the pumpkin muffins. It seemed like such a waste, though, to open the big can of pumpkin in my cupboard when I only needed 1 cup. What would I do with the extra pumpkin? My mother had taught me well that food should not be wasted. And then it dawned on me that I had some leftover cooked sweet potatoes in the fridge. They'd been boiled in their skins, peeled, and sliced for a side dish. 

If you've read the "About the Author" section of this blog you'll already know that I can't stick to a recipe! I read several recipes for pumpkin muffins, did some combining, added here, altered there, and came up with this recipe, all my own, for Spiced Sweet Potato Muffins. 

The recipe makes a dozen, but I now have only 9 ½ muffins on a cooling rack in the kitchen. My son dropped by and grabbed one while it was still warm, and I watched nervously while he ate it. "It's okay," he said, reaching for another. I tasted one, too, and they are better than just "okay"! They are absolutely not bad at all. Do you see me grinning from ear to ear. Thought I'd share the new recipe with all of you.

Mixing up the batter.

Ready for the oven.

Spiced Sweet Potato-Buttermilk Muffins

Recipe by 2 Strings

Ingredients

2 cups white flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

¾ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ginger

¼ teaspoon cloves

½ cup brown sugar

¼ cup granulated sugar

3 tablespoons molasses

¼ cup softened butter

2 large eggs

1 cup cooked, pureed sweet potatoes

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¾ cup buttermilk

½ cup chopped walnuts

course granulated white sugar for topping

Directions

1.            Preheat oven to 400° F.

2.            Coat a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray or line with paper cupcake liners

3.            Puree cooked sweet potatoes in a food processor

4.            In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves together. Set aside

5.            In a large bowl, cream sugars and butter.

6.            Mix in eggs, one at a time with mixer on medium speed.

7.            Add molasses, vanilla, and pureed sweet potatoes. Mix with mixer on low speed just until blended.

8.            Using a wire whisk or fork, mix in flour in two batches alternating with buttermilk. Do not over mix.

9.            Stir in walnuts.

10.        Divide mixture evenly among the twelve muffin cups.

11.        Sprinkle the top of each muffin with coarse granules of white sugar.

12.        Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

13.        Cool on a wire rack.