Made half a recipe and since I wanted big muffins ended up with eight. Not sure why the recipe author has both ground nutmeg and freshly-grated nutmeg (?) but I used all freshly-grated. The other thing that puzzled me was putting fresh ginger root in a garlic press (and I have a good one) because that simply didn't work. I ended up finely grating the ginger. This does have a lot of ingredients but the end result is good. The taste mimics pumpkin bread they're moist not overly sweet and I like that pop of tartness from the cranberries. Nice recipe BITWITCH.
Didn't have fresh cranberries so I soaked dried ones in hot water. Also used 1 tsp. ground ginger instead of fresh and 1 1/4 tsp. fresh ground nutmeg. 1 cup w/w flour 2 cups white. Turned out very nice. Will make again??
I really liked this recipe! It's nice to be able to use up a substantial amount of squash in one recipe, and the coconut oil, squash, spices, and cranberry go very well together. I didn't have fresh nutmeg or safflower oil, so skipped the grated nutmeg and used applesauce instead of the safflower oil. I halved the sugar and then sprinkled a bit more brown sugar over the top, which caramelized nicely. Also, while mixing, I poured a bit of boiling water over it to help melt the coconut oil.
I think some chopped walnuts would make this a 5 star recipe, but I didn't add them this time so that my son could take it to his nut-free school in his lunchbag.
I reduced to 1/3 C Dark Brown sugar and 1/3 C granulated sugar. Also used only 2 large eggs 2 tsp Ground Ginger and 1tsp. Ground cloves 1/3 cup local honey 1/2 C applesauce and they were fab!!
Made recipe as written w/ these changes: used half whole-wheat pastry flour and half all-purpose flour used half the white sugar called for and 1/4 c less brown sugar omitted freshly grated nutmeg (increase ground nutmeg by same amt) substituted olive oil for safflower oil used small wild low-bush cranberries (frozen when added to mix). The muffins came out okay if a little greasy when served warm (I used ungreased paper-lined muffin tins standard and mini-muffin sizes). This seems to happen when using coconut oil in most baked goods if you don't adjust the dry ingredients. The muffins were much better the next morning after cooling uncovered on counter (seemed less greasy as coconut fat is solid @ room temp) with nice crisp tops. The crumb is nice but the muffins are too homogenous/blah texture-wise; however I prefer more texture in my muffins. I will make this again adding 1 1/2- 2 c of toasted chopped walnuts or pecans and doubling the amount of cranberries. I'll probably use all olive oil (or at least sub unsweetened applesauce)to omit coconut oil to reduce the saturated fat and hopefully mitigate the greasiness when served warm. The sweetness and flavor are good even with the reduced sugar and without the fresh grated nutmeg. Thanks for a great use of squash and cranberries!!
Not bad had a decent crown but then again with this much sugar I feel like they are more a desert cake then a breakfast type muffin. If you put a lot of sugar in anything it usually tastes good but not so good for you.
I added a little more cranberrys and I use left over squach from last nights dinner. I will for sure make them again! I would give them a 10
Our CSA farm share gives us a lot of squash this time of year so I am always looking for new ways to use it. I used a kabocha squash (which cooks up and mashes very like Butternut) a little extra dried powdered nutmeg (since I didn't have any fresh) and chopped ginger from a jar. I did find the batter a little dry and added about 1/2 cup of milk to moisten it to a better consistency. The finished muffins were very tasty and moist so maybe the milk wasn't really necessary.
Now I don't like my muffins too sweet.. so I made some changes. I used 2 cups whole wheat flour 1 cup all purpose half of what the original recipe calls for both white and brown sugars all spices the same amount but I didn't have fresh ginger so I used about 1 tsp ground ginger I had. I used about a cup and a half of fresh cranberries and subbed the saffron oil for applesauce. These were good and will make again but the spices completely masked the butternut squash taste. I will probably use only half of the spices called for to get more of a savory muffin versus a dessert muffin. Thanks!
