Pumpkin Muffins

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I am one of the many that dove into the world of sourdough this year. One of the questions you start with is “How do I understand and handle starter?”

And part of that management is the discarded starter. If you want to research, you’ll find plenty of recipes, blogs, and videos with creative ways to use old starter instead of just dumping it, and today I am sharing one of my new favorites!

I am using a dried pumpkin and cinnamon starter recipe from Vanessa Kimball’s The Sourdough School.

I crushed it in a mortar and pestle, then added it to my pumpkin muffin recipe. The flavor of spice, sour, and sweet was so perfect, I had to share!

Enjoy!

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Pumpkin Cinnamon Dried Starter

Stir in equal parts of pureed pumpkin and old starter. Sprinkle with cinnamon (I love Costco’s Saigon cinnamon). Spread thin on parchment paper, and let dehydrate 3-7 days somewhere warm and dry. I was able to do it in one day in a warm, low oven. Break it up and store. It will keep up to 6 weeks in a sealed glass jar once dry.

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Pumpkin Muffins

(makes 24 muffins)

1 cup sugar

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

2 T baking powder

2 tsp cinnmon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1 small can pumpkin

1/3 cup melted coconut oil

1 tsp vanilla

1 vanilla bean

{Preheat oven to 375 degrees}

Whisk the dry ingredients (except vanilla beans) together in a medium sized mixing bowl. In a second medium sized mixing bowl, combine the wet ingredients and the vanilla beans. Dump the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until just moistened. Put in greased muffin tins.

Grab a handful of the pumpkin-cinnamon starter, and pound into a powder in a mortar and pestle. Sprinkle each muffin with some starter.

Bake 15-17 minutes. Cool on a rack.