Rustic Pumpkin Cupcakes and Memories for Teatime Company

These mini cupcakes are eggless and 100% whole wheat, sweetened with 50-50 honey and molasses, and spiked with fresh ginger, cinnamon and cloves. Rustic and equally tasty, these pumpkin cupcakes make perfect teatime snack!

That was an entire afternoon's labour - a pretty little twin paper sailboat made with hand painted notebook paper. Those days during monsoon paper sailboats were the craze. But not many knew how to make a twin sailboat, I did. I was proud of it and naturally that rubbed a great many friends the wrong way too.  Just as I was about to set my boat to sail, a splash of water from the puddle hit my face. With the muddy droplets dripping down my eyebrows and lashes, and a huge one dangling on the tip of my nose, was I furious? As hell I was! Or, was I more enraged because my pretty little boat didn't look quite like it after all; the entire painting was smudged with water. "How does it matter?", asked my friend, "it would have anyway gotten smudged had it sailed", she smirked. Well, it matters for that exact same reason; it got smudged before it could sail. Now, did that lead to a puddle fight? You think?

I enjoy the teatime more than anything these days. A cup of hot tea, my hands reaching out for something to nibble on, while trying hard to concentrate on unfinished work, as the mind wanders in the direction of thunder and gets lost amidst such amusing memories, never wanting to return. Monsoon brings alive a lot such memories, silly yet nostalgic.

These days the sky is almost constantly overcast with occasional gleam of sun. Another couple of weeks and retrieving monsoon would officially hit the city. It is a thing of joy and something I dread, at the same time. But until then, I'm making the most out of the regular evening cloud outbursts; they bring in huge respite to the otherwise humid laden air and usher in memories aplenty.

And yes, teatime nibbles have become such a necessity, definitely something hot, but not fried. So with the weather more or less pleasant, the time seems ripe once again to continue my baking adventures.

For the picky eater I am, right from my childhood, I've turned my back at pumpkins countless number of times. Pumpkins are yellow, round and cute, I thought that's the closest I could ever get to liking this vegetable. But that was only until I discovered these can be one of the most versatile pizza toppings ever! Don't believe, give it a try! So, I had this leftover wedge, which probably wouldn't have lasted until my next pizza adventure. A quick research landed me on a page for pumpkin donut holes and I went ahead and gave it a try. I tweaked the ingredients to match what I had in my pantry then and baked them in mini cupcake liners (which I pulled out from overhead storage space with great difficulty. Yes, I am yet to unpack my baking kit)!

Talking about these mini pumpkin cupcakes, they are perhaps the healthiest I have baked so far. Lovely, rustic and with no frills attached - and the cinnamon sugar, I bet you would regret if you give it a miss. So, here you go!

INGREDIENTS USED

Whole wheat flour, 109 grams

Baking powder, 1 1/2 teaspoon

Grated fresh ginger, 1/2 teaspoon

Cinnamon powder, 1/2 teaspoon

Cloves powdered, 1/4 teaspoon

Sunflower oil, 54 ml (you may use olive or any other vegetable oil too)

Honey, 50 ml

Molasses, 50 ml (You can use 100 ml honey, instead of 50 ml and do away with molasses altogether. I had just about 100 ml honey left and molasses was the only other liquid sweetener I had.)

Pumpkin puree, 180 grams

Vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon

Cinnamon sugar for coating

HOW TO:

Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius. Line a mini cupcake pan with mini cupcake liners.

Sift together whole wheat flour and baking powder into a bowl.

Using a fork, incorporate grated ginger, cinnamon and cloves powder.Using an egg beater, mix together oil, honey, molasses, pumpkin and vanilla in a bigger mixing bowl.

Now add the dry ingredients to wet mix, and using the egg beater mix in until just combined. Rigorous beating is not required.

Spoon in the batter into the prepared pan. The batter will give 21 to 22 mini cupcakes. Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes.

Once done and while the cakes cool on the iron rack, make some fresh cinnamon sugar. Roll the minis in to coat nicely and serve warm.

Enjoy with a cup of hot tea or coffee, while relaxing in your garden.

Recipe adapted from here.