See, now I’m a girl who keeps my promises, eh? About everything but picking up the dry-cleaning, at least. As I expected, these pumpkin muffins were a cinch, which is good, because I expect that from my muffins. They should max out at two bowls for prep, you should be able to mix them by hand and there shouldn’t be any excessively difficult steps. It’s not rocket science.

This recipe was all of that, plus, I discovered something – you know how they always say not to over-mix muffins? A large wire whisk, when mixing by hand, really allows you to incorporate all of the drying ingredients quickly without mashing them up too much. It’s made it much harder to overdo it, despite my better efforts.

And now, the part where I am a moron, because what entry would be complete without a little self-deprecation? Evidence the first: the recipe calls for a solid-pack pumpkin puree. What did I buy? Pumpkin pie filling; you know, the stuff doctored up with sugar and spices and some crap with a lot of letters. In my first attempt at the batter, I had already mixed the sugar with the eggs and oil when I realized the pumpkin already had enough sugar. So, I dumped it (please don’t ask where, because the state of our kitchen drain is unappetizing at best). But, then it turned out that maybe the pumpkin pie filling didn’t have enough sugar, but at this point (evidence the second) I had run out. Of sugar. It baffled me too. The muffins could use some more, both sugar and spice, which was by the way the other thing that I skipped, assuming the pie filling had enough. Well, meh, not enough for my tastes.

Despite my every attempt to wreck them, they’re a good pumpkin muffin, worthy of your palate. I can’t attest to whether the actual recipe, should you follow it, contains the correct amount of sugar or spice, for already-cited reasons, but who doesn’t adjust those things to taste, anyway? The sprinkling of cinnamon-sugar on top gave it a nice crisp on top when it came out of the oven, though unsurprisingly, it was somewhat softened by the time I took the better-lit pictures this morning.

Finally, in case you thought I was joking about my unbridled fervor over the new Gourmet issue yesterday, I offer up this evidence:

And this excludes the ones I determined too much of a calorie-heft for a weekday night, but am saving for later.