It’s that time of year for pumpkin everything!  These poppers are like doughnut holes.  A little dense and super moist they’re a delicious fall treat.  I made these for church last Sunday.  Not knowing how many the original recipe made I decided to quadruple the recipe (me and my inability to estimate quantities).  I also hate it when you open a can of something but your recipe doesn’t use the full amount.  So since I only had the jumbo size (29oz) can of pumpkin it was most convenient to just calculate the recipe to use all of it.  I ended up with about 75 which worked out rather well.  My sous-chef and I were able to sample them when we made them, and then there were only about 6 left over after church, so when my extended family came over for brunch they were able to try them too.

I ended up only dipping the tops in butter/cinnamon-sugar, but if you like a sweeter treat feel free to coat the whole thing.  I also suggest just sprinkling with the cinnamon sugar so you don’t contaminate the batch and you can save the leftovers for something else (like topping pancakes!)

Pumpkin Poppers

Makes about 75

Adapted from Just the Little Things

• 7 cups white whole wheat flour
• 8 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp nutmeg
• 2 tsp allspice
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1 cup canola oil
• 2 cups brown sugar, lightly packed
• 4 eggs
• 4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 large (29oz) can pumpkin puree
• 2 cup low-fat milk

For Coating:

• 1 stick butter
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 Tbsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350°F and grease mini-muffin tins with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, pumpkin and milk until well blended.

Combine wet and dry ingredients and carefully mix until just combined.

Fill mini-muffin tins until almost full.  (A cookie scoop works well.)  Bake for 10 minutes.

When the poppers come out of the oven, let cool while you melt 1 stick butter.  In a small bowl combine sugar and cinnamon.  Once poppers are cool enough to handle dip the tops in melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar.