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.