Butternut Squash Muffins

Thanksgiving in the U.S. is just a couple days away and, though this year is going to look a little different, we're all trying our best to keep some traditions alive. Our house will have just the three of us and I feel blessed beyond words that I have my two guys to enjoy this day with me.

Besides being a staple of a New England traditional Turkey Day plate, butternut squash is everywhere this time of year and has so many uses - roasting is delicious, adding to mac & cheese is a yummy way to up the veg content of that dish, pureeing it into a soup is also delicious and so healthy. But our favorite way to have it at Thanksgiving is mashed and baked into muffins! I have my mother-in-law to thank for this recipe, who has been making these muffins for years. Our only difference is that I like to add nutmeg and she does not use any spice. They are delicious either way! Of course, we also have a side of mashed squash on our plates for the meal, but the muffins are where the real love is.

This recipe uses pre-mashed (or pureed) butternut squash and is a perfect way to use up leftovers. We want to have our muffins with our Thanksgiving dinner, though, so I'm baking up a batch today. I also refuse to martyr myself to chaos on Thanksgiving morning, and I'm pre-prepping what I can, so I've already roasted and pureed my squash. It'll heat up easily enough - I'll just add a couple pats of butter and a sprinkle of nutmeg and it'll be perfect!

Now, on to these muffins...

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Ingredients:

1 cup cooked butternut squash, mashed or pureed*

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. cream of tartar

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 cup milk

2 Tbsp. melted butter

1/2 cup sugar

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.

2. Grease a 12 cup muffin tin and set aside (I use butter).

3. Dissolve baking SODA in the cup of milk and set aside.

4. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, cream of tartar, and nutmeg.

5. In a larger bowl, mix the squash, melted butter, and sugar. Then add the milk mixture and stir well.

6. Add the flour mixture all at once and stir until just dampened, then let sit for a few minutes to let the baking powder do its work and make it nice and airy.

7. Spoon into the muffin tin and bake for 20 minutes.

8. Enjoy!

These muffins freeze well if you want to keep some for later.

*Note: I prefer to roast my squash, but you can also steam it. Roasting has a better flavor, in my opinion! Then I pureed it with a stick blender.