Petite Pumpkin Carrot Spice Muffins

I'm a long time subscriber to Taste of Home, and I keep the old issues around for inspiration when I get tired of whatever current cooking streak I'm on. A recipe from last fall's edition caught my eye - Pumpkin and Spice and Everything Nice Muffins. These are touted as being better for you because they are sweetened with real maple syrup, and have carrots, whole grain and pumpkin in them. That probably just about counterbalances the butter. I baked them in mini muffin cups because they cook so much faster, and on a busy school morning, those extra 10 minutes are a big deal. The finished product was delightful and greedily scarfed up by my kids. The texture is perfect - nice soft crumb, melt in your mouth, no rubberiness or chewiness (often a problem with reduced fat recipes), only lightly sweet. Just right. I made a slight modification from the original recipe, which called for 1/2 cup of wheat bran, and I didn't have it on hand. I simply used whole wheat flour with good results.

Pumpkin Carrot Spice Muffins

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour (or wheat bran)
2 t. pumpkin pie spice (or 1 1/2 t. cinnamon + 1/4 t. each ginger, nutmeg and cloves)
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 cup canned pure pumpkin puree
1/2 cup plain, lowfat yogurt
1/2 cup pure maple syrup or honey
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
1 cup finely grated carrots
1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray two 24 cup mini muffin tins with cooking spray and set aside. In a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients except chocolate chips and nuts and set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients, then add the dry ingredients and fold in until just moistened. Fold in the chocolate chips and nuts, then divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown and top springs back. Cool on a wire rack. Yield: 48 mini muffins

**These may be baked in full size muffin cups as well, and the recipe states the yield is 12. Bake for 20-22 minutes.