Both of my grandmothers were AMAZING Southern cooks (my mom is pretty good too). You know, I think my grandmothers saved their absolute BEST stuff for when us grandkids visited. So, yes, I might have had dessert at all three meals when I visited them. Drove my folks nuts, but you know, Grandma’s House, Grandma’s Rules.

So in my current pumpkin obsession, I got a hankering for pumpkin bread. My mom makes a lovely one, so I pulled out my trusty plaid Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook (circa 1953), thinking that’s where her recipe was, but no luck. No Pumpkin Bread. So I reach for HER mother’s recipe box, the one that my sister graciously saved for me when they were cleaning out the house after my grandfather (who survived my grandmother) died. It is one of my prized possessions. Sure enough — a recipe titled Pumpkin Bread — score! I still need to find out if this is Mom’s or not :).

I read through the recipe, and the ingredients were all basic pantry items that I had on hand. But I was a little puzzled by the yield: one bundt pan and a small loaf pan, or, two medium loaf pans. How many muffins would that be? I headed over to one of my favorite blogs for a sanity check and decided that my grandmother’s full recipe would yield about 24 muffins. Since I didn’t have a full can of pumpkin any more, that meant a half recipe (rant: did pumpkin cans shrink? They hold less than 2 cups now).

So I turn the recipe card over, and find this note about the recipe’s source in her oh-so-recognizable cursive: “She wraps this bread in foil to store. It stays moist and keeps a long time, unless hungry grandchildren find out it is on hand.” I almost bawled — it’s like she had written that hoping I would find it years later. It was a moment.

So I follow her recipe pretty much as is, except that I like raisins and nuts in mine. A couple of hints about those. If your raisins are a little firmer than you like, soak them in some hot water to plump, then drain well before tossing in the batter. Also — I highly recommend toasting the walnuts before you toss them in. Nuts in wet batter just don’t develop as full a flavor. Toasting also helps them stay crunchier!

These really are the best pumpkin muffins ever. There’s a strong pumpkin flavor – no guessing about what kind of muffins! They are moist and not too sweet. The perfect accompaniment to your mid-morning coffee. Truly.

Best Pumpkin Muffins Ever
Adapted from a recipe from Erma Payne, who got it in 1970 from Mrs. Whitisell, Leawood, KS
Makes about 16 standard muffins

1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons “baking” spice mix [*]
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup water
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup toasted walnuts, cooled and chopped

Preheat oven to 350F. Line 16 muffin tins with paper liners. Keep a couple extra on hand in case you can stretch it to 18.

Sift dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Separately, mix the pumpkin, butter, eggs, sugar, and water together. Pour the wet into the dry and mix until almost all of the flour is incorporated. Add the raisins and nuts and incorporate — but don’t overmix!

Fill the muffin tins about 2/3 full with batter. Bake at 350F for about 25 minutes, or until a wooden pick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. I would check at 20 minutes and then at 3 to 5 minute intervals thereafter.

[*] This is a cinnamon-based spice mix that includes such things as ginger, nutmeg, mace, cloves, and/or allspice. Sometimes labled “Pumpkin Pie Spice” or “Apple Pie Spice”. Mine contains cinnamon, mace, anise, and a touch of cardamom.