Pumpkin Streusel Muffins

My little one woke up around 4:30 this morning and decided it was time to start the day, plus my morning coffee was feeling a little sad a lonely.  The cure - Pumpkin Streusel Muffins.  I would like to describe the muffin,  but I just watched the Saturday Night Live skit with Betty White and I just can't write about muffins right now, so here is a picture and the recipe.

Pumpkin Muffins with Struesel Topping

Makes about 18

Muffins:

1 Stick Butter

¾ Cup Brown Sugar

1/3 Cup Molasses

1 Cup Canned Pumpkin

1 Egg

1 ¾ Cups Flour

½ tsp Salt

1 tsp Baking Soda

1½ tsp Cinnamon

1 tsp Nutmeg

¾ Cup Dates, Prunes 
½ Cup Chopped Pecans

Streusel Topping:

4 Tbs. Butter softened

1/2 cup Sugar

1/4 cup Flour

1 Tbs. Cinnamon

1 tsp. Nutmeg

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper baking cups.

Cream the butter, brown sugar, and molasses until creamy. Add the pumpkin and the egg and mix well.

Sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Add the dry ingredients and the dates, prunes or raisins and nuts to the mixture. Beat just until the batter is smooth. Spoon into muffin pans.

For topping combine dry ingredients, then work in butter.  Sprinkle over tops of muffins

Bake for 15 minutes

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake

 This month was my first bake along with The Cake Slice bloggers.  We are baking from "Cake Keeper Cakes" by Lauren Chattman and this months selection was Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake.  I love pumpkin and would have liked a little more pumpkin kick, but overall the cake was, flavorful, tender and moist. I didn't have semisweet chocolate chips in the house, which is very odd since I usually have about 3 bags, so I used Ghirardelli dark chocolate, the size and flavor of the chips were overwhelming, so I need to make it again with the right chips to give the cake a fair chance.   I was also working with an assistant who insisted he could prep the pan, unfortunately some spots were missed and we lost about half of the cake.  I will definitely give the cake another try, but I'm not sure it will replacement for the receipe I usually use.