Pumpkin Muffins with Candied Pepitas

These muffins are light, moist, mildly spicy with just a hint of orange and a subtle pumpkin flavour and, if made as per the recipe, (which I did the first time), gargantuan and a little too much like dessert.

In my effort to make them a little healthier, I have discovered that this recipe is very forgiving: I have used oil instead of butter, used whole wheat flour and reduced the sugar and have still ended up with a muffin that is moist, tender and delicious.

The candied pepitas are a nice touch if you have time to make them - I usually just sprinkle the raw seeds on top before baking.

There is also no need to pull out the stand mixer to make these; whisking wet ingredients by hand and folding them into the dry - ie typical muffin/quick bread mixing method - works just as well.

The recipe makes 24 more normal-sized muffins (as per the photo) that bake in ~20min.