Before I get too far into this post I must clarify that this is NOT a cupcake, if you are looking for those go here. No my friends this is just as pretty as a cupcake yet a little more healthy and filling. I found this recipe from Jamie Oliver's  book Jamie Oliver at Home which I absolutely love and highly recommend. Jamie's book is about a year of cooking using produce he grew and game he hunted. His photographs are beautiful, rustic and real. No overdone food styling or staging, just Jamie out in the woods and in his garden doing what he loves. The main reason I love this book is because Jamie sorts every recipe by season, which is how we should eat.  We should not be making a caprese salad in the dead of winter, winter tomatoes come from who knows where and are probably genetically engineered to ripen quickly with the aid of chemicals. Don't do it! No matter how badly you want that way too perfect looking tomato....reach for real winter crop such as pomegranates! By eating seasonally you are suporting local farmers that worked their tooshies off to get you fresh food. Don't support overpaid scientist who spend their day spraying green tomatoes with ethylene!

 Okay, back to the muffins! So, these are different in that they are not overly sweet and instead of butter you use olive oil. I know it sounds weird. Trust me, you cant taste it at all and these muffins turn out super moist. The topping is not an icing or frosting but just a slightly sweetened sour cream and you must NOT leave out the fruit zest and lavender petals...they are KEY! These muffins are not something you want to take to a birthday party but rather have as a "healthy" alternative to those snack junk foods you find yourself munching on these cold winter days.

Butternut Squash Muffins with a Frosty Top

(the book said this would make 12 but it actually made 18, maybe he used less butternut squash puree than I did, either way they tasted great)

• 14 ounces butternut squash puree, a little less than 2 cups
• 1 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 4 large eggs
• pinch of salt
• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour ( I used half whole wheat and 1/2 AP from red wheat berries)
• 2 heaping tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (I only used about 1/2 cup)

      For the Frosty Top

• 1 clementine, zested
• 1 lemon zested
• juice from 1/2 lemon
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 3 TBSP  confectioners sugar (you could try honey if you like)
• 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped out
• lavender flowers (optional but really add a lot to these muffins)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line your muffin tins with paper cups or butter your pan.

In a stand mixer beat the sugar and eggs. In a separate bowl combine a pinch of salt,  flour, baking powder, and cinnamon. Pour into sugar mixture. Add olive oil and butternut squash puree and beat until combined. 

Fill the paper cups with the muffin mixture. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes. Check to see whether they are cooked properly by sticking a wooden skewer or a knife right into one of the muffins - if it comes out clean, they're done. If it's a bit sticky, pop them back into the oven for a little longer. Remove from the oven and leave the muffins to cool on a wire rack.

As soon as the muffins are in the oven, make your  frosted topping. Place most of the clementine zest, all the lemon zest and the lemon juice in a bowl. Add the sour cream, icing sugar and vanilla seeds and mix well. Taste and  think about it - adjust the amount of lemon juice or icing sugar to balance the sweet and sour. Put into the fridge until your muffins have cooled down, then spoon the topping onto the muffins.

Serve on a lovely plate (on a cake stand if you're feeling elegant, or on a rustic slab if you're more of a hunter-gatherer type!), with the rest of the clementine zest sprinkled over. For an interesting flavor and look, a few dried lavender flowers are fantastic. Enjoy!