I picked up a new cookbook last week – not that I really needed one. Our local Borders store is closing, and everything has been marked down 70-90%.

I kind of felt like a vulture, rummaging through the shelves looking for a deal, while in the back of my mind I wondered about the jobs of the people who worked there.

I did find something to take home though – The Oprah Magazine Cookbook.  The bright shiny cover and beautifully photographed dishes drew me in, and as I fanned through the pages I knew I had to buy it.

Today I decided to make the Pumpkin Applesauce Muffins, and was happily dumping flour and spices into my butter mixture, when I realized that I had just thrown in the entire can of pumpkin puree – rather than the 1 cup it called for.

I had visions of dense, gooey muffins…not a desirable trait in a muffin. So I panicked and wondered if I should try to double the recipe to salvage it, then realized that this would call for another 4 eggs, 2 cups of sugar and whole stick of butter. At this point, I decided to bite the bullet and just go with it.

I mean, brownies were invented from a botched recipe right?

Well, my decision paid off, since these muffins turned out to be perfectly moist. No soggy dough bricks here. 

So that is how Oprah’s Pumpkin Applesauce muffins turned into my Double Pumpkin Applesauce Muffins. I will write the recipe as written in the cookbook, but if you’re feeling a little adventurous, don’t worry if you decide to use the entire can of pumpkin – in fact, I recommend it.


(recipe from The Oprah Magazine Cookbook)

(prep: 15 min; bake: 20 min; yield 21 full muffins)

1 1/2 tbsp butter, melted
3 1/3 cups all-purpose
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup canned mashed pumpkin (or the whole can like I did!)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup apple juice, cider, or orange juice (I used orange juice)
1 1/2 cups raisins (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Grease 12 half-cup muffin cups with melted butter. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and salt; set aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar until cream, 2-3 minutes. Beat in the eggs, applesauce, pumpkin, and vanilla until blended. Add the dry ingredient alternately with the juice, beginning and ending with the dry mixture. Mix until smooth, but don’t over mix. Gently fold in the raisins.

3. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each cup all the way. The fuller you make your cup, the higher domed your muffin will be. Bake on center oven rack for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow muffins to cool in the pan for several minutes. Turn muffins out onto a cooling rack. Sprinkled with powdered sugar if desired and serve warm or at room temperature. Repeat steps 1 through 3 with any remaining batter. If you don’t have enough batter to fill all 12 cups the second time around, just put a little water in any empty cups. Enjoy!