What’s Halloween week without another pumpkin recipe?

Got extra pumpkin puree? Craving something a little sweeter than Pumpkin Scones? Want to pretend that your pumpkin cupcake sans frosting is actually a breakfast food? Enter the pumpkin muffin!

This is a stupid easy muffin recipe, as most muffin recipes tend to be, and makes reasonable-sized muffins (i.e., ones you can eat in a sitting and not feel like you’ve eaten a whole cake). It’s also a great way to use a good deal of pumpkin puree, rather than half a can (if you’re going the canned route – remember, you can make your own pumpkin puree!) or just a cup for moisture, and still not make an army’s worth of muffins.

I always like to give my muffins a little extra texture and fiber, be that in the form of nuts, dried fruit, or seeds. For this particular muffin, I include pumpkin seeds and dried cranberries (hence the name). The cranberries add a nice tangy contrast to the sweetness of the muffin and the earthy pumpkin flavor, and I just like the crunchy of pumpkin seeds or nuts. I top them with a sprinkling of raw or demerara sugar for extra crunch and sweetness.

If pumpkin seeds aren’t your thing, you can sub in walnuts, pecans, or whatever tickles your fancy. Heck, you can even just make plain ol’ pumpkin muffins without the cranberries. I won’t tell.

I also like to make a vegan version of this muffin, because it’s so easy to do and there are a lot of vegan (and non-vegan!) customers who appreciate a bit of sweetness in their lives. I find that I don’t miss the egg, other than its adding a bit more fluff to the final product, and the vegan version is a bit more moist, to boot!

When I want to sub out egg in a recipe, I go for a tablespoon of spent sourdough starter, or sourdough discard – it adds just a bit of leavener, plus a bit more tanginess, but not enough to overpower anything or taste like sourdough. (Pssst – you should totally start keeping your spent starter in your fridge if you aren’t already doing it.) I also add a bit more baking soda to make up for the lost leaven. The vegan variation is at the bottom of the recipe.

Enough talk. Let’s muffin!