strangely compelling butternut squash muffins

Last week I cooked from the Babbo cookbook for the first time. I've never been to Babbo, I'm kind of scared of Mario Batali, and I only have the book because I got it for free a few years back. But something made me pick it from the pile, and I got excited about making braised shortribs with pumpkin orzo. Though the dinner was nothing spectacular (cook's fault, I'm sure), the next morning I adapted his recipe for pumpkin cake to make these butternut squash muffins with rosemary, which were so tender and fragrant I ate one after another in a futile attempt to locate the exact source of their irresistible appeal. (Andrew, who was not as enthralled as I was, says I liked them so much because they occupy some weird middle ground between sweet and savory.) Since I had neither cake flour nor canned pumpkin puree, couldn't include the pine nuts, and didn't want to include the raisins, there's a good chance my muffins bore little resemblance to the pumpkin cake. I can't imagine liking them more, though, and they are deliciously autumnal.

-Preheat oven to 325. Prepare a standard 12 muffin tin.
-Stir together 1 cup of flour, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1 tsp baking soda.
-Beat two eggs with 3/4 cup light brown sugar until very light. Since I didn't feel like dealing with appliances, even small ones, on Saturday morning, I did this with a fork, and it was fine.
-To egg and sugar mixture add 1 tablespoon of finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves. Beat in 3/4 cup olive oil. Stir in the dry ingredients.
-Now you stir in 1 cup of mashed roasted butternut squash. I had this left over from roasting squash with olive oil, salt, and pepper the night before. Consistency need not be perfectly smooth, though it should not be chunky; mine was a little watery, too.
-Bake until skewer comes out clean/top springs back when you press/muffins have achieved muffiness. This took between 20 and 25 minutes in my oven.

Comments

[LisaSD]

What a wonderful creation you came up with! And this time of year, I'm always looking for new uses for butternut!

[Robin]

I never would have guessed that the sweet squash and sugar would go so well with rosemary and olive oil, but I'm telling you, these muffins had to be pried out of my hands.

[Bunny]

What temperature did you set your oven at, or did I miss reading that somewhere? Also, do you think it's possible to substitute white flour for pastry flour?
Thanks,
Bunny

[Bunny]

What temperature did you set your oven at, or did I miss reading that somewhere? Also, do you think it's possible to substitute white flour for pastry flour?
Thanks,
Bunny

[Robin]

The oven was at 325 degrees F. The original recipe called for cake flour, but I used normal all-purpose white flour & the results were perfectly tender...I think the squash kept them very moist.