Spice Muffins W/Pumpkin, Chocolate, & Streusal

I had every intention of posting this yesterday.  Or even the day before that.  I don’t like it when this much time passes between posts.

But my Internet was down.  For yesterday and most of today actually.  And I was pretty sick yesterday.  And tired.  And kinda cold.  So I wasn’t that disappointed that my computer was toast.  It was a wonderful excuse to reheat leftovers for my family and curl up on the couch under a blanket, repeating over and over that the current state of my body was temporary and the result is soooo worth it.  In addition to the drama caused by this pregnancy, we are currently potty training our youngest.  Seriously, we are just a barrel of fun at our house these days.

All sarcasm aside, I have actually been working on developing a recipe for an apple snack cake.  Using up my over abundance of apples has become a top priority, but after numerous attempts, I just could not get the recipe quite where I wanted it.  I mean, it is good and passable, but not great.  So I kind of got tired of it and decided to do something entirely different.  It was about that time that my energy sort of fizzled out, what little food I had eaten that day threatened to make a second appearance, and the couch beckoned.  But I still wanted to whip something up.  A few days before this, I had been reading The Noble Pig blog and saw the following recipe.  It sounded really good.  Now, I am not the biggest fan of what I call ‘cheater’ recipes (recipes that are made based on some kind of convenience food), but I won’t deny they have their place.  I have a cookie recipe that I absolutely love that is made with a box of chocolate cake mix and Corn Casserole is based off of a corn muffin mix.  When it is a winner, it is a winner.  OK, fine.  I guess I should clarify that I don’t like to use ‘cheater’ recipes a LOT.  I prefer the old fashioned, from scratch, taste much better kind of method.  But like corn casserole and those killer chocolate cookies which I will share with you one of these days, this one is a winner.  It is fast and easy and tastes great.  No matter what kind of cook I am, I can always use a little help once in awhile.  And this past week, I needed the help.  Oh!  Did I tell you we have been continuing to remodel our house this week too?!

I mean, we can’t leave it looking like this, can we? Granted, it looks better than this right now, but the work seems to be never ending.  Actually, shortly after this picture was taken, an extremely large television was mounted on the wall to the left of that door.  Aside from electronics, we have a lot to do.  Mike and I are hosting a cocktail party the beginning of December so Thanksgiving is kind of our unofficial try-to-have-as-much-done-as-we-can-with-the-exception-of-furniture cut off date.  Furniture-and we need a lot of it-is expensive.  That kind of stuff we are picking up bit by bit over time.  Everything else like trim, painting, a kitchen back splash, doors, hanging stuff on walls, painting, trim, and all that other finishing stuff is fair game.  *sigh*

So back to these cupcakes-er, muffins.  Yeah, so they are really good.  Honestly though, they are really cupcakes, they just have streusal instead of frosting, making them kinda muffin-like.  Whatever they are, in spite of the abundance of flavors going on (spice, pumpkin, chocolate) the flavors work.  The chocolate chips with the pale orange cake makes them almost festive.  Very easy to whip up and take to work or share with family.  No matter what you may have going on this week… One Year Ago: Vegetables W/ Pasta

Spice Muffins W/ Pumpkin, Chocolate, & Streusal
Recipe from The Noble Pig

1 box Spiced Cake Mix
1 can pumpkin
1 c sour cream
1/4 c canola oil
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1-12 oz bag chocolate chips

Put all ingredients, minus the chocolate chips, in a mixer and combine.  Once mixed, turn up the speed and lightly beat for a minute, till color pales slightly and batter is light and fluffy.  Fold in the chocolate chips.  Divide among sprayed or paper lined muffins cups (it should make 18-24 muffins).

Top with streusal:
3 T softened butter
1/2 c sugar
1/4 c flour
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice, optional

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl and sprinkle over muffins.  Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool on a wire rack.