Pumpkin Nut Muffins

These were delicious!  As usual, I used half wheat flour and I actually replace the butter with canola oil.  My pumpkin was fresh, organic that I had roasted from our farm share.  I also always cheat on buttermilk and use 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice in 1/2 cup that I fill with skim milk (skim doesn't get as much curdling, but it's just as yummy).  I also only had pecans on hand and that worked just fine in lieu of walnuts.

Pumpkin Nut Muffins
1 3/4 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1 1/4 c solid pack pumpkin
1/2 c buttermilk or plain yogurt
1 large egg, lightly beaten
3 Tbsp melted butter
2/3 to 3/4 c chopped walnuts
1/4 c brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Preheat over to 375 degrees.  Grease a 12 cup muffin tin or line with paper baking cups.  In a small mixing bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg.  IN a medium mixing bowl, combine pumpkin, buttermilk or yogurt, egg, butter, and chopped walnuts.  Whisk together.  Add flour mixture to wet ingredients and stir until ingredients are moistened.  (Do not over mix; a few lumps are OK).  Spoon mixture into prepared muffin tin and fill cups 2/3 -3/4 full.  Combine brown sugar and cinnamon for topping.  Sprinkle topping evenly on top of batter.  Bake for 25-30 minutes or until muffins are golden brown around the edges.  Cool for 5 minutes and remove from pan.  Serve warm. 
* Recipe from Cooking Inn Style entry by Inn at Pinewood in Eagle River, WI

Perfect Devil's Food Cake

For Camden's 1st birthday party we made the following cake - it was more than enough for 12 guests!  We made a third more than the recipe to make an extra cake just for Camden (which she proceeded to eat 1/2 of).  But we ended up with plenty left over.  This cake has been in the family for a long time - I'm not even sure where it originally came from.  Oh, and before cake we had Oscar pasta (see recipe in previous entries) and grilled hot dogs and brats. 

Perfect Devil's Food Cake
2 1/4 c. sifted flour
2 tsp. Bkg soda
1/2 c. butter
2 1/2 c. brown sugar
3 eggs
3 -1oz. sq. chocolate
1/2 c. buttermilk
2 tsp vanilla
1 c. boiling water
Grease bottom and sides of three 8" pans. Dust with flour. Sift flour, baking soda and salt. Cream butter and sugar til fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Beat hard after each addition. Melt chocolate over hot water in double boiler. Add to batter and mix well. Add 1/4 c. flour and 1/3 c. buttermilk and mix. Repeat, ending with flour. Mix in vanilla and boiling water. Bake 350 degrees til toothpick is clean.

Frosting
1 1/2 c. heavy cream
1/4 c. sugar
2 tsp. cocoa
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Mix together and let stand in fridge for 2 hours. Then whip and frost cake.