Pumpkin or Squash Muffins

A plain baking-powder muffin enriched with pumpkin or winter squash puree. The method is standard muffin technique, and the warning about handling matters more than anything else here.

• Flour quantityThe flour line reads "1/2 cups," which cannot be right against 2 teaspoons baking powder, 3/4 cup milk and an egg. The proportions point to 1 1/2 cups flour; treat that as the working figure and add a spoonful more only if the batter will not mound on the spoon.
• Hot ovenIn a book of this vintage "hot" means roughly 400-425F. At 400F, 25-30 minutes is right for a standard twelve-cup pan; check at 20 minutes if your pans are dark or shallow.
• Do not overmixThis is the hinge. Stir the wet into the dry only until the flour disappears, lumps and all. Beyond about a dozen strokes the gluten develops and the muffins come out tough with tunnels through the crumb.
• Squash, steamed and strainedButternut, Hubbard or any dense winter squash, steamed until soft and pressed through a sieve or ricer. It can run wetter than canned pumpkin, so let it drain in the sieve a few minutes if it looks loose, or the batter will slacken.
• Canned pumpkinUse plain pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling, which is already sweetened and spiced and will throw the sugar off.
• No spiceThe recipe calls for no spice at all. A teaspoon of cinnamon or a half teaspoon of grated nutmeg sifted with the dry ingredients moves it toward a dessert muffin if that is what you want.
• Greasing the pans"Well-greased" is not incidental. A sweetened batter of this kind tends to stick; butter the cups thoroughly or use paper liners.
• YieldAbout 10 to 12 muffins, on the reconstructed flour quantity. They are best within a few hours of baking.