Repli-Kate - Pumpkin "Muffins"

I'm typically a very smart shopper. I print out coupons at home, head straight to sale racks at the store, and you are 99% more likely to find me at Nordstrom Rack over regular ole' Nordies.

But there must be some pleasure center in my brain that lights up when I am in a Costco because I WANT IT ALL. 

***Side Note*** I won't even get started on what an infomerical or issue of Skymall magazine does to me ***End of Side Note***

Whatever this spell is that Costco has me under, I see something I could conceivably need and find a way to justify it into my cart.

Case in point? I have never made anything out of pumpkin before. But the last time Joe and I were at Costco I saw a three pack of giant cans of Libby's pumpkin and decided I NEEDED it. I spewed out something about there being two whole months ahead of us where serving pumpkin is acceptable, we are having guests for Thanksgiving, I am cooking more, Joe said himself he wants pumpkin foods... etc, etc, etc.

Joe shook his head in a resigned acceptance that we weren't leaving without three giant cans of America's Favorite Pumpkin. I took that as my cue, and I happily skipped over to the display, plucked up my pumpkin, and distractedly dropped it in our cart as I caught a delicious looking sample out of the corner of my eye and, having won this battle, had already lost interest.

"America's Favorite Pumpkin" is not just me exaggerating about America's fondness for Libby's. It says so on the can.

This was a month ago, with 60 whole days of acceptable pumpkin-eating ahead of us. According to my spiel, by this time I should have easily used at least 1.5 cans making a variety of pumpkin goodies.

So have I? Of course not.

And with Halloween tomorrow (yay!) I knew I had to take a can opener to at least one of these bad boys or I might lose some of my Costco credibility with Joe (and that would be tragic).

So I scoured Pinterest for pumpkin muffin recipes and found the easiest recipe I have ever seen. SCORE!

Seriously - easiest recipe ever. All you need is a box of yellow cake mix and a regular can of Libby's (or half of one of my monsters). THAT'S IT.

***Side Note*** You can add spices if you want - I chose to add two teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice and highly recommend that you do the same. Then again, I like things really flavorful, so maybe you'd prefer 1 1/2 tsp. ***End of Side Note***

INSTRUCTIONS

Pre-heat oven to 350

Stir together one box of yellow cake mix and one 15 oz. can of Libby's pumpkin

If you'd like, add 2ish tsp. of pumpkin pie spice

Fill a muffin tin - each 3/4 full (recipe will make 12)***

Cook for 20-25 minutes (I checked mine at 18 minutes and they were done, but my oven's nickname is Hades)

Enjoy!

*** The recipe I followed recommended piping the batter into the muffin tin (you can make a piping bag out of a ziploc with a cut off corner). I did this and am SO glad I did. The mixture is really sticky - and a spoon would have lead to frustration and cursing

When you finish, you can fill a cute little bowl like I did. I put them in a bowl solely because they were cute that way - in no way was it done to disguise the fact that I was snacking on tasting the goods ;)

The 80+ 3x5 cards that you spent 8 hours making for your husband aren't required... unless you are a dental (or medical, law, etc.) school wife. If so, you have probably felt my pain.

And, let's be real. These aren't pumpkin muffins - they are pumpkin cupcakes. That is, until breakfast tomorrow. Then they will certainly be referred to as muffins ;)

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