Getting kids to eat veggies is all about marketing, especially when you have a picky food-allergic child.
For those of you not in the know, Spookily is a square pumpkin that stars in his own cartoon show aimed at the under-five crowd. (What is it about square things and kid’s cartoons?) My daughter has never seen this show, but has somehow absorbed this piece of pop culture. Thus was born the Spookily muffin. I haven’t yet figured out how to make them square, though.
Muffins
2 bananas
1 cup canned pumpkin*
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup rice milk
2/3 cup canola oil
3 1/2 cups safe flour
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice*
Topping
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped rolled oats
2 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon*
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Place oats in blender and pulse a few times until they are roughly chopped. (Do not clean blender, we will be using it again.) In a small bowl, mix oats and brown sugar and set aside.
Place banana in blender and puree until they become a smooth saucelike consistency. Mix banana, pumpkin, sugar, rice milk, and oil until well blended. Combine dry ingredients and then gently stir into the wet mixture until just moistened.
Top each of the muffins with one tablespoon of toppping. Bake 20 minutes.
Makes 24 regular muffins.
* Variation — Spookily Sweet Potato Muffins: For a low-histamine version of these muffins, use canned pureed sweet potato instead of canned pumpkin. Substitute 1 teaspoon ground ginger for the 2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice, and omit the cinnamon in the topping.
This is a good recipe–thanks for posting it. With the second batch I made, I added more allspice in the mix, and I added 1 tsp. of ghee (casein-free), 1 tsp. of maple syrup, and 1/2 tsp. of ginger to the topping mix so that it came out less powdery and more crunchy like streudel.
Hi, sounds like a great recipe but what is the oven set at and how long are muffins baked? Thanks.
The oven is set at 375 degrees, and the muffins are baked for 20 minutes. Enjoy!
Thanks Sally Ashbrook for allerting me to the fact that I’d left the fat out of the topping recipe. I’ve modified the recipe to include 2 tablespoons canola oil, to help it stick together and become a crunchy streusel topping.
I just found out that Chicago Metallic (the good-quality bakeware company) makes square muffin pans!! Actually, they call them ‘crumbcake pans’ which is why I had trouble finding them when I first read this Spookily recipe. They’re the kind of pans that have a lift-out piece in the bottom to make it easier to get the crumbcakes/muffins/cupcakes/whatever out of the pan. I almost ordered one for you on the spot, but thought I’d better check first to see whether Spookily is still a hit.
Hi,
We are allergic to wheat, what type of flour should we try?
Bob’s Red Mill makes a great gluten-free flour mix.
Depending on the severity of your allergy, you may be able to tolerate using kamut flour or spelt flour. If you have a severe wheat allergy, this is not recommended.
Just a word of caution – Bob’s Red Mill is not nut safe. They mill nut flours and use shared equipment to make and or package the nut flours and regular flours. They said this also applies to the gluten free facility. I called after using their flour for some time and then started seeing warnings on their other products. The person on the phone said she would not use their products if you have a nut allergy.
Thank you so much for sharing that information about Bob’s Red Mill. I didn’t know that, and I aplogise for suggesting their product to the previous poster.
Since wheat is not a personal problem, I am not as aquainted with the wheat substitutes as with other substitutes. I have noticed that some gluten free fours actually contain nut or soy flours. Luckily there is a greater variety to choose from than there used be, but you still need to be careful and research the product.
A wheat substitute that does contain gluten but would be safe for someone with a wheat allergy is 1/2 oat flour and 1/2 barley flour. It makes a denser baked good than wheat and may require some adjustment of the the wet ingredients. It could work well in this recipe, which is intended to be a moist bread, though I’ve yet to try it.
Jeanette
My daughter is allergic to bananas in addition to milk, soy & wheat. Can we use applesauce or something else as a banana substitute? Thanks!
Please try applesauce and let me know how it is!
Jeanette, these are delicious!!
Our flour blend: 1/3 each of buckwheat, white rice and millet, plus some rice protein powder.
Our oil: coconut oil
We skipped the bananas after the first attempt and just doubled the pumpkin. Yum!!!
Also we skipped the topping altogether b/c we’re not doing oats.
Soooooo good — so moist!