The house held a chill this morning, a foreshadowing of times to come, and I woke up feeling a need to celebrate the change. Bundled in a cozy robe and intention, I made my way to the kitchen, imagining the smell of pumpkin muffins. It is a yearly, predictable ritual with me, this little jump on the season where I begin to see the changes in the colors on the trees, where the mornings, like this one, tease that cooler days are upon us. The truth is that here the days are still hot, but bookended by nights that become chillier and mornings like this one that call for a robe and slippers.
Yesterday, I created the September porch–also a yearly ritual. I planted mums and put out my artificial pumpkins. With so many squirrels in the neighborhood, real pumpkins are not even a remote possibility. The little buggers trash them and the porch looks like they had a drunken kegger. So, artificial pumpkins, that blend in with the real flowers and plants in the front is the order of the day. This morning was a total Martha Stewart “get off” with a September porch gracing the front of the house, pumpkin muffins in the oven and my usual cup of hot tea, enjoying the cool temperature. Very satisfying.
In a short bit, I will meet my friend Linda at the trailhead for our Thursday morning walk and I will watch for the trees that are just starting to don the autumn palate. In the meantime, I am enjoying a pumpkin muffin and have already been outside to admire my September porch and smile. Life is good.
Below is the recipe for gluten-free muffins (made with coconut flour). I substituted 3/4 of a can of organic pumpkin for the two bananas. When you use pumpkin, make sure to add a good teaspoon of “pumpkin pie spice” to the mix. If the batter is too stiff, add a tablespoon more coconut oil. Don’t you just love September?
Coconut Flour Muffins
Wet Ingredients:
6 eggs
4 tablespoons of coconut oil (melted)
2 heaping tablespoons of honey
2 good sized ripe bananas
¼ tsp vanilla
Dry Ingredients:
½ cup coconut flour
½ cup nut pieces (pecan or walnut)
¼ teaspoon salt (optional)
½ teaspoon baking powder
1/8 scant teaspoon of Xanthium gum
Optional:
½ cup blueberries
Put all wet ingredients in blender until smooth.
Put all dry ingredients in a bowl. Slowly mix in wet, blended ingredients into the dry ingredient in bowl.
Fold in blueberries.
Bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Larger muffins take a little longer bake time than the mini muffins. Makes 12 muffins or 24 mini muffins.
Your post makes me even more hopeful that eventually we will have cool mornings here, too.
I love it when the evenings and the mornings start to get cool! One of the great joys of autumn.
Pumpkin muffins–my favorite! I’m not ready for fall, but the thought of pumpkin-flavored baked goods gets me that much closer to acceptance. 🙂
Pumpkin anything is definitely a way to get a jump on the season. The smell of pumpkin and spices is intoxicating…in a really good way! 😉
The best part of this time of year is the warm days to enjoy the fleeting sunshine and the cool nights that invite a fluffy down comforter with the windows open to the night noises. Love this piece! You captured the mood so well and the pumpkin muffins sound relish!! Also love your “porch guard dog” perfectly happy to pose for you.
My porch dog sends his regards. Had to get him in the picture. He thinks that it is all about him anyway! He thinks you are a very brilliant person for noticing…;-)
Oooh … makes me want to put on my warm fuzzy robe tomorrow morning and have tea on the porch! 🙂
And fuzzy robes are so comfy, unless of course it happens to be 85 degrees or so! 😉
Thanks for visiting my blog! I love your story of September porch traditions. What a wonderful way to welcome fall!
I read how your 5-year-old coined the name–don’t ya just love kids! Liked the guava cake recipe too. You are far more brave than I!
Muffin recipe sounds good and I like using coconut flour and oil. Hopefully the xanthium gum isn’t crucial because I don’t have any. 🙂
You can try a little arrowroot…
Thanks for the idea. And I didn’t mean to post part of my comment twice. Didn’t think I’d actually submitted the part about the xanthium gum yet, so figured I’d just add the part about the pumpkin and the porcupine
Muffin recipe sounds good and I like using coconut flour and oil. Hopefully the xanthium gum isn’t crucial because I don’t have any. 🙂 BTW, I have a suggestion for your porch ritual….buy one real pumpkin and put it out in the yard where it won’t make a mess on the porch and let the squirrels have their one kegger to celebrate the coming season change, too. I know they would like my idea. 🙂 I have seen the cutest video of a porcupine eating a pumpkin and if the squirrels are in any way like him, I would hate to deny any animal that much enjoyment.
p.s. I found one of the videos….
Cute idea for the squirrels…It will drive my Lab crazy though. He thinks it’s his job to bark at all squirrels regardless of cute! Thanks for the video.
Yes, I thought about your Lab possibly doing that. Oh well, I’ll tell the squirrels here that I at least tried on behalf of their relatives 🙂