What do we eat? Part I: Pumpkin muffins

In the past we have told you about all the great road-side stands that sell pumpkins on the honor system. That means we eat a lot of pumpkin in the fall. No complaints. However, one pumpkin product we sadly have not found in Germany is canned pumpkin. The logical conclusion from this is that Germany, despite its plethora of delicious baked goods and cakes eaten every day promptly at 3:00 pm with coffee, lacks pumpkin sweets. No pumpkin lattes, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin pie... :(

But fortunately we have connections in the US, and make semi-regular trips there. So I will admit, at the risk of paying back customs, to smuggling cans of Libby's pumpkin into Germany. With the weather feeling determinedly autumnal, I baked pumpkin muffins last weekend with my imported - pureed gold?

The occasion was the 1st birthday our friends' son. He was born on Reunification day (Oct. 3; "Tag der Deutschen Einheit"), the holiday that celebrates East and West Germany being re-united. That means the little guy gets the day off on his birthday every year. And it didn't escape the attention of the nurses when he was born, that his mother grew up in former east Germany, and father in west Germany. That is a bit of poetry.

But back to the muffins. I found the recipe on the Libby's website. I made a few modifications: I used local apple cider instead of orange juice, and sunflower not vegetable oil. I think most Germans are used to muffins made with butter, not oil, which tend to be dryer. Sometimes I find the oil-based muffins to be a bit too moist. I also utilized my smuggled stash of McCormick's pumpkin pie spice.

I topped the muffins with Nutella frosting. Yes, this could certainly be an entry for This is why you're fat. I'm not sure that Germans really appreciate frosting, because I brought the muffins into work unfrosted and put them next to the tub of Nutella frosting. The muffins disappeared but the frosting lingered. Oh well. I do quite like the German version that appears on donuts. It's called "Fettglasur" (fat glaze). How is that for truth in advertising?

If you are in Germany and want to enjoy homemade pumpkin muffins, you will have to do a bit of extra work. You will have to bake and puree the pumpkin yourself. I'm also not sure we can find the classic baking pumpkin used in the US here in Germany. They look like this.

Pumpkin muffins - minus the Nutella frosting.