Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins Revisited

It’s not fall until Caitlin makes some sort of pumpkin muffin and, by golly, for a few days we felt the faint kiss of fall in the morning breeze!

So Caitlin made her classic chocolate chip pumpkin muffins but instead cinnamon she threw in some Chinese 5 Spice!

If you’d like to add a hint of intrigue to your fall and winter cooking we dare you to use Chinese 5 Spice, it will bewilder your friends and possibly leave your relatives speechless!

Here’s how to make these muffins (if you prefer to play it safe, substitute Poudre Douce (that’s our pie spice) or cinnamon for the Chinese 5 Spice):

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons Chinese 5 Spice

6 tablespoons butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup Ginger Sugar (Optional, it adds a nice bite! Of course, you could just use all plain sugar)

1/4 cup olive oil

2 large eggs

2 tablespoons sorghum or molasses

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional but highly recommended)

Preheat oven to 350° and line your muffin tins with festive liners ~ this recipe makes about 18 muffins.

Combine flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and spices in a small bowl. Using your electric mixer or some serious elbow juice mix together the sugar and butter until it looks a bit like wet sand. Scrape down the sides of your bowl and add oil, eggs, molasses, and pumpkin. Mix thoroughly and scrape the sides down again. Add the dry ingredients, scraping down the sides at least once. Throw in the chocolate chips and mix until just combined.

Pour the batter into your prepared muffin tins. Fill each to about two thirds full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean! Let cool in the tins for a few minutes then move to a wire rack to continue cooling. At this point, it is highly likely that they will start disappearing. However, if you manage to have some at the end of the day, they should last for a few days in an airtight container.

Happy fall, friends!

XO

Charleston Spice Co.

Pumpkin Soup

The weather here in Charleston can be deceiving, is it really fall or is summer still holding on? Sometimes the appearance of pumpkin flavored things is the only way we know fall has officially arrived.

We spent hours dreaming about a time when it would be cold enough to make this pumpkin soup from Rachael Ray. Luckily, we’ve been having some fabulous fall weather and we finally got to make it. Well, we tried to make it but you know how things go in the kitchen, sometimes recipes just don’t get followed… So here’s what we did:

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped

2 handfuls of brussels sprouts, chopped

2 cloves of garlic

4 tablespoons Cocoa Nib Rub ~ more or less to taste

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

6 cups beef, chicken, vegetable broth

1 can pumpkin puree

2 cups heavy cream

Heat medium-sized soup pot over medium high heat. Add oil and melted butter. Add onion, brussels, and Cocoa Nib Rub. Cook until tender. Add flour and cook for a minute. Pour in broth and bring liquid to a bubble. Add in pumpkin in large spoonfuls to incorporate into broth. Simmer 10 minutes to thicken a bit then add cream. Reduce heat to low and keep warm until ready to serve.

We topped our soup and with chopped pecans roasted with our Pecan Pie Spice and served it with buttermilk biscuits!