Day Twenty Seven – What are your food traditions?

A thought occurred to me the other day that I thought was interesting and I hope you think so too. Different areas of the country have different holiday traditions when it comes to food. For instance, on my holiday table for Thanksgiving and Christmas there will always be pumpkin pie, apple pecan pie and death by chocolate. For the Easter Holiday I still have the apple pie and the death, but not generally the pumpkin. The same holds true for certain foods (comfort foods) if you will, that my family loves. One of these is pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. Here is what you need:

1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 1/2 cup packed brown sugar, 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon baking power, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 2 large eggs, 1 cup plain pumpkin (not the pumpkin pie mix) 1 stick of melted butter, 1 cup chocolate chips.

Grease muffin tin or use paper baking cups. Sift flour, pie spice, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Stir in the brown sugar and the granulated sugar. In a separate bowl break eggs, then add pumpkin and butter and whisk until well blended. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour over dry ingredients and fold in with a rubber spatula just until dry ingredients are moistened. Scoop batter into muffin tins and bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes. I usually stick a knife in them to be sure they are completely baked. If you run out of pie spice you can substitute with 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ginger and 1/2 teaspoon cloves. These are actually better on the 2nd day.

Here is what they look like.