Monthly Muffin: Sweet Potato Muffins

This is the first of hopefully many "Monthly Muffin" posts. Each month I am going to consult with Epicurious's Seasonal Ingredient Map. My rule of thumb is if a farmer is willing to drive to a farmer's market to sell his or her product then the area they hail from is local enough for me. In DC we often get farmers from Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. After selecting seasonal ingredient(s) from one of these states I am going to find or create a muffin recipe for that season and share it with y'all.

This month sweet potatoes are the only seasonal ingredient in Maryland. That worked well for me because I was craving pumpkin muffins and sweet potato while providing a unique flavor, is typically a good substitute for pumpkin. So why trek out to Pennsylvania for pumpkin when my neighbor has sweet potatoes?

I was set on using Smitten Kitchen's recipe for pumpkin muffins, which I am sure are fantastic, but my friend Jane recommend Pioneer Woman's recipe--also for pumpkin muffins. If you're a die hard fan of the pumpkin, I surely plan to do these again with the intended ingredient.

Pioneer Woman used a cupcake style batter, but the s.p. adds some density that certainly makes me think muffin. She does though suggest a cream cheese frosting. I do NOT subscribe to the logic that frosting=cupcakes, but in this case it does push these more toward cupcake land. Frosting was nice, but totally unnecessary.

These muffins were moist, sweet, but not overkill that vaguely reminded me of my mom's sweet potato casserole (sans marshmallows). I can easily see this as breakfast or dessert. MY CHANGES: Aside from swapping pumpkin for sweet potato I also doubled the cinnamon (since I love cinnamon and almost always do this) and used brown sugar rather than white. I also misplaced my nutmeg so this time there was none. I also omitted the golden raisins. I may add them in next time, but I wanted to experience the spices and s.p. all by itself.

Moist Sweet Potato Spice Muffin (adapted from Pioneer Woman)

Prep Time: 20 Minutes | Cook Time: 25 Minutes | Servings: 10-12

Ingredients

Muffin Ingredients:

• 1 cup All-purpose Flour
• ½ cups Brown Sugar
• 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1 tablespoon Cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoons Ground Ginger
• ½ teaspoons Nutmeg
• ½ teaspoons Salt
• 4 Tablespoons Butter,
• 1 cup (heaping) Sweet Potato Puree (mashed/blended sweet potatoes. I don't think this comes canned!)
• ½ cups Evaporated Milk
• 1 whole Egg
• 1-½ teaspoon Vanilla

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Topping

• 2 Tablespoons Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoons Nutmeg

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For frosting:

• ¼ cups Softened Butter
• 4 ounces, weight Cream Cheese
• ½ pounds Powdered Sugar
• ½ teaspoons Vanilla

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Generously grease 12 muffin tins.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Mix in butter until it is fully incorporated. In a separate bowl, mix together sweet potato, evaporated milk, egg, and vanilla. Pour pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture. Fold gently until mixture is just combined.

Pour into a greased muffin pan—batter hardly ever fills all twelve unless you keep it down to 1/2 full. Sprinkle with remaining cinnamon-sugar-nutmeg mixture over the top of each unbaked muffin.

Bake for 25 minutes. Allow to cool in pan for 15 minutes, then remove and allow to cool. Ice with cream cheese frosting.

Optional frosting (I actually prefer without):

Mix all ingredients on high until soft and whipped. Spread onto completely cooled muffins, or place into a large pastry bag with a large star tip and go crazy! Store in the fridge, as icing will soften at room temperature.

I actually preferred it without icing, but I wanted to try it out.