We have been eating it as a vegetable and often. We are now into baking with it. Keeping in mind ‘Everything tends towards disorder’, I stepped up using up the small crateful of butternut squash I still have from last year’s garden. This is the first muffin I made from it and we shall try no other muffin recipe. It’s ‘the cat's miaow’ as they say and at the first try no less. A blend of several recipes going all the way back to my amazing blueberry muffins, but I digress. A small to medium sized butternut squash will produce sufficient amount of puree for the recipe. These muffins are worth baking a squash for. It is that good. I was never as enamored with squash as much as my darling, but pairing squash with orange was a brilliant idea I picked up from the Hungarian web.
Orange Butternut Squash Muffins
1 1/2 cups of the butternut squash puree [from a small butternut squash]
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 cup 3.25% buttermilk
2 tsp orange extract
3 large eggs
1 cup whole wheat flour [I used whole spelt]
up to 2 cups of all purpose flour
Orange Syrup:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 navel orange
The Puree:
• Fist make the butternut squash puree.
• It doesn’t matter how you slice the squash open, crosswise or lengthwise, it will be pureed anyway.
• Scoop out and toss the seeds and the stringy mush.
• Place the squash cut side up in a parchment lined baking pan.
• Roast for an hour at 350F.
• Remove the squash from the oven and let it cool for 10 minutes.
• Scoop the flesh into a food processor.
• Puree smooth.
The Muffins:
• Preheat oven to 375F.
• Line a large 12 muffin tray with parchment liners.
• Place 1 1/2 cups of butternut squash puree, oil, sugar, brown sugar, ground nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda, buttermilk, orange extract in a beater bowl and beat to combine.
• One by one add the eggs beating well after each addition.
• Gradually stir in the whole wheat flour and just beat to combine.
• Begin to add the all purpose flour. Add it gradually. This is where you have to use your intuition if you need to add all or a bit less. Keep in mind muffin batter should be slightly more robust than cupcake batter. The variations can result anywhere from different measuring technique to the size of the eggs.
• Spoon the batter into the lined muffin pans.
• Bake in the preheated oven until a sharp knife inserted into one of the middle muffins comes out clean.
• While the muffins bake make the orange syrup.
The Orange Syrup:
• Wash and dry a navel orange.
• Using a small paring knife, peel off the rind avoiding the white pit.
• Slice the rind into very thin strips and then cut into small squares.
• Place the sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium heat.
• Cut the peeled orange in half and squeeze all its juices into the pot.
• Bring it all to boil and add the orange rinds.
• Cook stirring the mixture continuously until syrup consistency. Syrup will bubble up.
• When the muffins are done, move them to a tray.
• With the paring knife cut 4 holes into each muffin,
• Spoon the orange syrup over the muffins.
• Slide the parchment liners off and enjoy.
