Pumpkin Maple Oatmeal Cinnamon Chip Muffins with Maple Pumpkin Glaze

Pumpkin maple oatmeal cinnamon chip muffins with maple pumpkin glaze..... How's that for a mouthful? Sorry for the long title of this recipe, but it's the best I could do. ;-) It's descriptive, at least! After reading that you have a good idea of what to expect, right?!

The following recipe is an original Barbershop creation! I created this muffin recipe to submit to a King Arthur Flour contest, the Sweet Victory Bakeoff. The two main requirements for this contest were that the recipe contained King Arthur Flour and pure maple syrup. Entries could be submitted in the categories of breakfast, dessert, or savory (main dish). As you can guess, I opted for the breakfast category! To create this recipe, I did do some research by studying some other muffin recipes... However, the actual combination of ingredients and measurements was completely my own. :) Would you like to know more about it? Thought so! Here ya go...

Ingredients

Muffins:

-1 cup King Arthur whole wheat flour

-1 cup King Arthur unbleached all-purpose flour 

-3/4 cup rolled (regular) oats

-2 teaspoons baking powder

-1/2 teaspoon baking soda

-1/2 teaspoon salt

-1 teaspoon cinnamon

-1/4 cup light brown sugar

-2/3 cup pure maple syrup

-3/4 cup canned pumpkin

-3/4 vanilla flavored yogurt

-1 large egg, at room temperature

-1/4 cup vegetable oil

-3/4 cup cinnamon baking chips

Glaze:

-1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted

-2 tablespoons pure maple syrup

-3 teaspoons canned pumpkin

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare your standard muffin pan(s) by greasing approximately 20 muffin cups or lining with muffin paper liners.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the first seven ingredients (wheat flour, all-purpose flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon); set aside. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, maple syrup, pumpkin, yogurt, egg, and vegetable oil until well combined. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix by hand until everything is incorporated, but be careful not to over-mix. Stir in the cinnamon chips. Scoop the batter into your prepared muffin pan(s), filling each muffin cup approximately 2/3 full.

Bake for approximately 14 to 16 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the middle of a muffin springs back when touched (cooking times may vary per oven). Let muffins rest in pan for 5 minutes before removing from the pan to let them cool completely on a cooling rack.

To prepare the glaze, whisk together the powdered sugar, maple syrup, and pumpkin until the mixture is smooth without any lumps. Use a spoon to drizzle the glaze on top of the muffins.

Allow muffins to sit and cool completely (at least 2 to 3 hours) before storing in an airtight container, and use a container that is large enough so that the muffins have room to “breathe.” This will prevent the muffins from becoming soggy.

Yield: Approximately 18 to 20 muffins

Above is exactly what I submitted for the contest. It seems so formal for the blog though. :-P Now I'll share my usual array of pictures....

A few thoughts for you...

Although I've listed the two flours (wheat and all-purpose) as being King Arthur brand, they certainly don't need to be! That was obviously for the purposes of the contest. Also, any brand of vanilla flavored yogurt should be a-okay.

What I love about this recipe is...well, a few things. :)  1) It is very simple!! There's no need for a mixer; everything can be done by hand. I will note that there are several ingredients involved. However, none of them are odd or hard to work with or anything, so don't let that list of ingredients intimidate you.  2) The flavor combination of pumpkin, maple, and cinnamon is just plain delicious! I think maple and cinnamon especially pair well in breakfast items, and that was part of the reason I chose to add both ground cinnamon and cinnamon chips. That being said though, the maple flavor is very subtle in this recipe. It doesn't necessarily stand out. In fact, if you want to feed these to anyone who doesn't care for maple, I am pretty sure they will still really enjoy these muffins!  3) These muffins are moist, fluffy, and hearty all at the same time. I personally like muffins with those qualities and hope you do too.  4) I like these because they were fun to create on my own! Regardless of whether I do well in the contest or not, it was a really unique baking experience for me to not follow a recipe from another source. You should try it sometime yourself!! ;-)

Close-up of the maple pumpkin glaze....yummm. This is good stuff.

A shot of the inside - moist and fluffy!!

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't post a picture of the ingredient that inspired this recipe even though it wasn't necessarily prominent in the final flavor of the muffins...pure maple syrup! And of course, I used the BEST stuff from New York. ;-)

Oh, and I did make this recipe a few times to get it just right...  One time I made a few muffin tops instead of muffins! I used the new, fun muffin top pan that my sister gave me. :) Thanks, sista!

Will let you know if I do well in the King Arthur Flour contest! Keep your fingers crossed for me, please. :)

PS - Check out this recipe over at Lisa's Sweets for a Saturday where TONS of other delicious treats can be found too! ;-)