This month for cupcake hero the theme is squash! As you know I made spaghetti squash muffins last night they were good but these are even better!! yum!! So I'm putting these up for the cupcake hero vote! As for the jam I used in these, you'll have to bribe April or myself for the jams... both are super tasty :)

pumpkin bran muffins... i mean cupcakes... with jam centers
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
dash salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup bran flakes (i like to do 3 big handfuls, crumble them in your hand before filling with next handful)
1/4 cups splenda brown sugar (packed)
1 egg
1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree -- fresh or canned
about a 1/4 cup really good jam (i used home made raspberry jam made by yours truly, and a peach vanilla bean made by the wonderful April from abby sweets!)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees (325 convection). Spray muffin tins with non-stick oil. Sift together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and spices. In separate bowl, beat together brown sugar, pumpkin puree, and the egg. Slowly add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture. Beat well, until smooth. Stir in crushed bran flakes. Fill muffin tins two-thirds full. Make a little dent in the middle and fill with a dollop of jam. Bake 20-25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center of muffins comes out clean.

mmmmmmmmmmm I love pumpkin... yum

chow!

i'm making myself hungry with all these close ups!

I love me some jelly (or i guess it's really jam)! I've never made jam before and have always wanted to. Even though I was in the middle of moving apartments I decided to join in on Batter-Splattered's Jam/Jelly Exchange!!! It was so much fun and I will totally do it again! Basically everyone is given a name of someone to send a jar of jam to. I received a jar of salmon berry jam from Valerie in Kodiak Alaska!! Ok first how cool is it that my jelly came from Alaska??? Second what are salmon berries??? Click on the link to wiki it :) I need to pick up a good loaf of bread so I can make some toast and try it! I can't wait and I"ll let you know when I do :) Look at how pretty it is!


As for what I made... I figured my first batch of jam had to be full on from scratch so my friend Anjali who grew up in my home town and now lives here in Rochester suggested we go raspberry picking at a local farm. The day came and it was gross and raining but we stuck it out and picked raspberries like a champ!


Did I mention that my sister was off in DC going into labor as we were out frolicking in the raspberry fields?? Crazy.

This jam was very easy to make, equal parts crushed fresh raspberries to sugar, no pectin, no nothing, just berries and sugar, and let me tell you... this jewel colored jam was the best tasting jam I've had in a long time... amazing texture color. uggggg it was just so good!!! Bring berries to a rolling boil, add sugar, stir constantly for 2-4 minutes, take off heat and beat with a hand mixer for 4 minutes, pour into sterilized jars and boil to seal :)

I sent a jar of my jam off with an extra little surprise with it last Wednesday.. hopefully she has received it! I'll link to her once I know for sure she got it so I don't ruin the surprise! :D


chow!

Update: April got her package!! Read about it plus her surprise here. Bummer it melted though!!!!!!