By The last full week of July and junior year was three weeks out. School had announced its plan for fall: a hybrid model, alternating in-person and remote days, masks required, distancing protocols. It was not normal school. It was school trying to be itself under conditions that made normal impossible. I had decided to treat it as exactly what it was and not mourn what it wasn't. That is the pragmatic approach. I find pragmatism more useful than grief when the circumstance is fixed.
I had my first in-person conversation with Destiny, Tanya, and Marcus since March — we met at a park, outdoors, masks on, and sat on separate blankets six feet apart like a very strange picnic. Destiny brought chips. I brought ginger cookies. Tanya brought iced tea in a thermos. Marcus arrived ten minutes late and said he had been fighting with his printer, which seemed like the most 2020 sentence I had heard in a while.
We were there for four hours. I had missed them in a physical way I had not fully registered until I was actually in their presence — the way people's faces are different in person than on a screen, the way laughter lands differently in real air. We talked about the summer, about what junior year would mean, about DeAndre. About the election in November, which all of us were going to be old enough to care deeply about even if most of us couldn't vote yet. About what we were going to do with our lives. The kind of conversation that is only possible when you have known someone long enough to skip the surface.
I baked the ginger cookies with more of the fresh ginger than the recipe called for, which had become my standard modification. Destiny ate four. Marcus ate six. Tanya ate two and said she was restraining herself. I told her restraint was overrated in the context of good cookies. She agreed.
I’ve made a lot of batches of spiced baked goods in my life, but the ones I make to bring somewhere always come out differently — more intentional, I think, because someone else is going to eat them. These Pumpkin Spice Cinnamon Roll Muffins hit that same register as the ginger cookies I brought to the park that day: warm, a little unexpected, the kind of thing that says I thought about you before I got here. If you’re making something to share with people you’ve missed, this is the recipe I’d reach for.
Elise Jesse Pumpkin Spice Cinnamon Roll Muffins
Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 20 min | Total Time: 40 min | Servings: 12 muffins
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, divided
- 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar, divided
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 cup whole milk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1–2 tablespoons milk (for glaze)
Instructions
- Preheat and prep. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners or grease well with nonstick spray.
- Mix dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, pumpkin pie spice, and 1/2 teaspoon of the cinnamon. Set aside.
- Mix wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin puree, granulated sugar, 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar, vegetable oil, eggs, milk, and vanilla extract until smooth and well combined.
- Combine. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir gently until just combined — do not overmix. A few streaks of flour are fine; overmixing leads to tough muffins.
- Make the cinnamon swirl. In a small bowl, stir together the melted butter, remaining 2 tablespoons brown sugar, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon to form a loose paste.
- Fill and swirl. Divide muffin batter evenly among the prepared cups, filling each about 3/4 full. Drop a small spoonful of the cinnamon swirl mixture onto the top of each muffin, then use a toothpick or skewer to swirl it gently into the batter in a figure-eight motion.
- Bake. Bake for 18–21 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean and the tops spring back lightly when touched. Do not overbake.
- Cool. Let muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool for at least 10 minutes before glazing.
- Make the glaze. Whisk powdered sugar with 1 tablespoon milk until smooth, adding the second tablespoon a little at a time until you reach a drizzleable consistency. Drizzle over slightly warm muffins and allow to set before serving or packing.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 218 | Protein: 3g | Fat: 8g | Carbs: 34g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 175mg