Rainy-day muffins

Today, I am longing to be somewhere else. You know what that’s like: typically, you’re seated at a desk with piles of papers with which to deal; you glance out the window and note the long, grey streaking rain. Sigh. Back to bed? Under a duvet with your laptop, revisiting past episodes of Breaking Bad while your cat snoozes peacefully at your blanketed feet.

It’s a stupor I presently find myself in, since reading Ms. Mel’s status update on Facebook. She’s at home doing some rainy day baking and has put the kettle on. The kettle is on, people. That’s a call to action, in my books. You don’t pronounce, “the kettle is on,” without expecting some kind of immediate backlash.

So while I while away the hours at work, I can see it from here; there’s a little nutmeg adrift, and the dreamy sounds of Patrick Watson are filling her cozy kitchen; she is humming and folding in the dry, while her dog Sadie drifts in and out of serene sleep on the braided rug in the corner.

Here’s what she’s baking (and will feel obligated to share once I tell her she’s the feature baker in this week’s Greenboots article). She adapted her recipe from the food blog Ezra Pound Cake.

Anne Boulton is an avid gardener who lives in Sudbury.

Pumpkin Doughnut Muffins

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pan
2 1/2 tsps baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp coarse salt
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 1/4 cups pure pumpkin purée
1 3/4 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs

Glaze:
4 tbsps unsalted butter, melted (use 1 to 2 tbsps if just coating the tops)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 1/2 tsps cinnamon

Preparation Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter and flour 12 standard muffin cups.
In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together the pumpkin and buttermilk. Set aside.
Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and brown sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping bowl as needed.
With the mixer on low, add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with two additions of pumpkin mixture, and beat to combine.
Spoon 1/3 cup batter into each muffin cup. Bake for 30 minutes.
Let muffins cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack.
Working with one at a time, remove muffins from pan, brush all over with melted unsalted butter, then toss to coat in sugar mixture. Let muffins cool completely on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container, up to one day.

FREEZING: The naked muffins can be frozen for up to three months. Reheat in a 350 degree oven, then coat in butter and sugar.