Mini Pumpkin Muffins

Sweet potato. I made Michael's first real food. A sweet potato from the grocery store — not from the garden, not yet, but chosen by my hands, inspected by my eyes, peeled and cubed and roasted at 400 degrees until it was soft enough to mash with a fork, and then mashed, and then passed through a strainer to make it smooth enough for a baby who has exactly zero teeth and limited patience for texture.

I put a tiny amount on the tiny spoon. I held it to Michael's mouth. He opened — he's learned the opening, the spoon reflex, the understanding that when a spoon approaches your face, you cooperate. He tasted the sweet potato. His face went through seven expressions in two seconds: surprise, confusion, consideration, interest, pleasure, more please, and a final expression that I can only describe as "why have you been holding out on me?" He ate the entire serving. He wanted more. I gave him more. He ate that too.

Kayla recorded it on her phone. The video shows me — seventy years old, reading glasses pushed up on my head, apron with a sweet potato stain, feeding a baby in a high chair in a kitchen with a cast iron skillet in the background and a photo of Willie James on the windowsill — and the baby is eating and I am smiling and the smile is the kind that uses your whole face because the muscles can't contain what the heart is feeling. That video is the most important document in this family. More important than the deed to the house. More important than the marriage certificates. A great-grandmother feeding her great-grandson his first real food in the kitchen where she has been feeding people for six decades. That is the document. That is the proof that the line continues.

Next: avocado. Then banana. Then, when he's ready — and I will decide when he's ready, not the pediatrician, not the books, me — shrimp and grits. I know what you're thinking. Shrimp and grits is not a baby food. Shrimp and grits is an advanced food. Shrimp and grits requires teeth and sophistication and an appreciation for stone-ground grits that most adults don't have. But Michael Devon Brooks will eat shrimp and grits before he is one year old because he is a Henderson and Henderson babies eat Henderson food and that is the end of the conversation.

Now go on and feed somebody.

After Michael finished his sweet potato and gave me that look — the one that said he had been waiting his whole four months for something this good — I knew the kitchen was going to be a busy place for years to come. Pumpkin is next on my list after avocado and banana, and when I’m ready to introduce it, these little muffins are what the rest of the family will be eating while Michael gets his puree. Same spirit, same orange sweetness, same love — just a different texture for a different generation sitting at the same table.

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 18 minutes | Total Time: 33 minutes | Servings: 24 mini muffins

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat and prepare. Heat your oven to 375°F. Grease a 24-cup mini muffin tin well with butter or nonstick spray, or line with mini paper liners. Set aside.
Mix the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice until evenly combined.
Mix the wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs, vegetable oil, milk, and vanilla extract until smooth.
Combine. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold gently with a rubber spatula until just combined. Do not overmix — a few streaks of flour are fine. Overmixing makes muffins tough.
Fill the tin. Spoon the batter into the prepared mini muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full. A small cookie scoop makes this easy and keeps them uniform.
Bake. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until the tops are set and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. The tops should spring back lightly when pressed.
Cool. Let the muffins cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn them out onto a wire rack. They are good warm, but even better once they’ve cooled to room temperature and the spices have settled.

Nutrition (per serving)

Mini Pumpkin Muffins — A Little Something Sweet for the Whole Family to Celebrate