Kabocha Muffins

Kabocha = Japanese pumpkin

It's one of my favorite Japanese dishes: delicious, tender, sweet pumpkin simmered in dashi stock with some sugar and perhaps some soy thrown in. I always had big portions of the stuff at "home" in Japan. And let's not forget the oh so delicious tempura fried variety over a bowl of rice. Kabocha is still my favorite part in ten-don and I will gladly trade it for my shrimp. Yum.

I found some kabocha seeds at a local Japanese grocery store, planted them, and now have several pumpkins to consume. So far I've gone through one (as they are supposed to "ripen" for a few months after harvesting) and tried a few recipes.

You can find kabocha at your local grocery store in the fall. If it's not available, you can substitute any kind of cooked fall squash with equally tasty results.

Kabocha Muffins

Ingredients

• 55g butter, softened
• 55g brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 180g kabocha, cooked and mashed
• 110g buttermilk
• 110g whole wheat pastry flour
• 15g baking powder

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line or grease a muffin tin and set aside.
2. In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add in the egg and pumpkin and stir until combined. Stir in the buttermilk.
3. In a separate bowl, mix the flour and baking powder, then fold into the wet ingredients until just blended.
4. Scoop batter into muffin tin about 2/3 of the way up. Bake for 17 minutes until golden and cooked through.
5. Turn out onto a rack to cool.

Makes 12 muffins.

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