Pumpkin Chia Kisses

I’m in total Thanksgiving mode and because usually is just Mom and me… I decided to make something sweet to end our lunch, but small and cute to sweeten our life without making it too sweet.

That’s how these little Pumpkin Kisses came about…  you could also call them mini-muffins, but the idea of naming them Kisses was too tempting to pass.  They have a pronounced pumpkin and spice flavor with a delicate hint of maple.  I enjoy the frosting to focus on the cheese to balance the sweetness of the little cake itself.

In this recipe I used chia seeds instead of the typical egg-replacer I usually use in my baking recipes.  I had been experimenting with these diminutive seeds and I believe the method I use for this mini muffins is spot on, allowing the seeds to gelatinize in the batter before baking make for spongy little cakes, perfect to enjoy as a dessert, a snack or even breakfast…  such is the life of the food blogger, mmmm!

I bake this recipe in my toaster oven because it’s usually just me testing these recipes and because I only have two small mini muffin pans.  Therefore, I bake this recipe in 2 batches.  The batter will remain perfectly fine while you wait for the first batch to bake.  But if you are a tad inpatient, you can certainly make this in a larger mini muffin pan and turn on your large oven…

Let me know how you enjoy these…

PUMPKIN CHIA KISSES

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

½ cup brown sugar

1 ½ tsp baking powder

2 tsp chia seeds

2 tbs butter, melted

2/3 cups milk, I use 2%

1/3 cup fresh pumpkin, steamed and mashed

½ tsp vanilla powder

½ tsp ground cinnamon, plus more for garnish

¼ tsp salt

½ tsp freshly ground nutmeg

For the frosting:

½  packet or 4 oz of cream cheese          

4 tbs heavy cream

3 tbs maple syrup

1 tbs brown sugar, optional

1. In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients – flour, sugar, baking powder and the chia seeds.  Whisk them well to make sure there are no lumps of flour or brown sugar in the mix.
2. In a measuring cup measure and add the milk, melted butter and mashed pumpkin.  Mix it well to create a homogeneous mixture.
3. Add it to the dry ingredients and whisk together until all ingredients are well incorporated.  Season mixture with salt, vanilla powder and spices.
4. Rest the batter at room temperature on your kitchen counter for about 30 minutes.  This will allow the chia seeds to gelatinize inside the batter.
5. Pre-heat oven to 350F.
6. Butter the baking pan.  Pour the mixture using a 1tbs measure.  The batter may seem like a lot, but they rise nicely and they will not stick together.
7. Bake in oven for 10 minutes until the cake has risen and it’s golden on top.  After 10 minutes have elapsed, turn the oven off but do not take the mini muffins out.  Not even open the oven door!! Wait about 20 additional minutes for the mini cakes to complete cooking with the residual heat already in the oven.  The muffins will be a total of 30 minutes in the oven.
8. Take the mini muffins out of the oven and rest it on a cooling rack so they cool completely.  While the first batch cools, bake the second batch using the same method.
9. While the mini-muffins rest, prepare the frosting – mixing in a large bowl the cream cheese, heavy cream and maple syrup using an electric hand mixer.  It’s possible the frosting might be a tad soft,  so I place in the fridge while the “kisses”  cool completely.
10. With an offset spatula, spread the frosting over the kisses and decorate with a light sprinkle of grown cinnamon using a very fine sieve.

Tags: #karmafree, chia seeds, cinnamon, cream cheese, food, nutmeg, pumpkin, vegetarian