Pumpcan Streusal Breakfast Delight

What first comes to your mind when you think about autumn? For me, it's the colors red, orange, and yellow, warm pies, cranberries and walnuts, pumpkins--carving and eating, and Halloween!! Who else likes when Hocus Pocus comes on ABC Family and we count down from the 13 days of Halloween on TV? Fall has GOT to be my favorite season as we pull out the sweatpants, cuddle in our Raven's snuggies, and watch our boys kick some @$$! What else could be any better???

Oh yeah...my Pumpcan Streusal Muffins that I made last Sunday!

So far this month, I've made a double layer snicker doodle cake with apples and cinnamon in the middle and a brown sugar cinnamon butter cream; warm apple dumplings; these pumpkin-pecan streusal muffins (get it??? pump-can???) and ALL have been a great pleasure. The apple dumplings could use some work but I think next time, I will be making apple cobbler which will be so much easier and taste exactly the same :)

Last Sunday will have wrapped up Oktoberfest month with my scrumptious autumn desserts, unfortunately. Next Sunday, I'm making a sugar-free dessert for my dad's birthday! He was the lucky one born on Halloween.

Anyways, back to my pumpcan muffins...I've never made streusal before (and in fact, I don't even know how to spell that word because each way I spell it, the computer says it's wrong!) so I wanted to see how easy it was. That's right, it was SUPER easy--cold butter, brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon! Mix it with your fingers to make it crumbly and BAM. Now, I ended up having left overs so I froze the rest in a tupperware. I read online that you can do this...now I just have to find something else to use it on! Perhaps a coffee cake?

The inside before adding more batter...streusal and pecans!

As far as the muffin goes, the ingredients were literally all that would go into a cupcake, just add the pumpkin puree. My friends that tried said that they were moist, flavorful, and one of the best treats I made so far :) I added some pecans and streusal in the middle of the cupcake then some more streusal on top before putting them in the oven. It actually worked out lovely that I made the original recipe (which made 12 regular muffins) yet poured the batter into a 6 cavity souffle pan and made bakery-style muffins! It was JUST enough batter.


I would probably change nothing about this recipe, however, I would most likely add more pecans next time and fold them into the batter instead of sprinkling them in the middle of the muffin. Raisins would also be a great addition...or chocolate chips! YUM!

It may look like the sides are burnt, but that's how the picture is!

I quote my friend "I think these are one of the tastiest things you've made."

P.S I highly recommend making your own vanilla extract. All it takes is about 25 vanilla beans sliced length wise, a liter of mid-grade vodka, and an old wine bottle. Madagascar beans are one of the best and you can get them on Amazon. Let the bottle sit in a dark cabinet for AT LEAST 5 weeks shaking frequently and there ya go! You will have extract for a lifetime and it adds some speckles to your treats :)