Pecan Streusel Spiced Sweet Potato Muffins

Sweet potato not only gives these muffins a wonderful rich flavor but also ensures they have a perfectly moist texture and crumb. You could also swap the sweet potato with roasted pumpkin for the same effect. Laden with fragrant warming spices of cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, ginger and vanilla, these are a welcome addition to Fall breakfasts and school lunches. Lets' be honest though, the thing that makes these real winners is that pecan streusel topping, amiright? Like seriously, can't everything have some streusel on it?

These are pretty easy to throw together, and if you're roasting sweet potatoes for dinner, make sure to do some extra for these muffins. You could freeze the mashed sweet potato in 2/3 cup portions to have ready to go for these muffins whenever you get the hankering--think lazy Sunday mornings.

Makes 12 Muffins

Muffins

Pecan Streusel Topping

Preparation

Preheat oven to 425?F. Bake sweet potato with skin on (with tin foil underneath sweet potato to catch juices and drippings) until fork tender, about 20-30 minutes. Remove from oven and when it is cool enough to touch, remove skin and mash sweet potato with a fork. Set aside.

Reduce oven temperature to 400?F and grease a standard 12 portion muffin. Whisk to combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices in a mixing bowl. Whisk milk and flaxmeal together until foamy, then whisk in maple syrup, oil, mashed sweet potato and vanilla until evenly combined. Keep wet and dry mixtures separate while you prepare the streusel topping.

Combine streusel topping ingredients together with fingers into a crumbly texture with some larger lumps. Set aside to top muffins.

Add wet mixture to dry mixture and stir with a rubber spatula until evenly combined. Do not over-mix. Divide batter evenly into the muffin tin. Top each muffin with a spoonful of streusel topping.

Bake at 400?F for 20 minutes. Tops should be golden brown and toothpick inserted into centers of muffins should come out clean.

When done remove muffin tin from oven and allow muffins to cool on a cooling rack for 5 minutes. Run a butter knife around the edges of muffins and release them from the pan, and allow them to cool to room temperature on a cooling rack.

Muffins will keep covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.

notes

To save time, you can roast and mash sweet potatoes in a larger quantity ahead of time, and freeze them in 2/3 cup portions to defrost and use at a later time. Measure out mashed sweet potato into 2/3 cup portions and freeze on a parchment lined sheet until solid, then transfer sweet potato portions to freezer safe containers or bags.

You can swap sweet potato for pie pumpkin or buttercup squash. Remove seeds and roast until fork tender, scoop out and mash flesh with a fork. Use the same 2/3 cup measurement for the recipe.

Enjoy!

Kaity Farrell is a private chef based on the island of Nantucket, MA, and the creative voice of the food blog Fare Isle. She focuses on seasonal, nourishing and wholesome, mostly plant-based recipes. When she’s not creating and photographing recipes, you can find her tending her seaside garden and enjoying the beauty of the island with her husband and their young son. Find her at fareisle.com