Remember when my inner food snob reared her ugly head, inspired by an accidental purchase? I showed my true colors and disparaged the accursed can of pumpkin pie mix that made its way into my grocery basket one day when I mistook it for the far more acceptable pureed pumpkin.

Sneaky devil!

Well, I still stand by my opinion that pumpkin pie mix has no place in my kitchen cupboard, thank you very much. However, I still had to use up the rest of the mix, so with a little creativity, I came up with another place for it: muffins. Yeah, I totally ignored every recipe in the whole wide world that says, “Be sure to use pumpkin puree, NOT pumpkin pie mix OR ELSE YOUR BAKED GOODS WILL EXPLODE AND YOU WILL DIE.” Pshhh, whatevs. I purposely used this sucker in a batch of muffins. And you know what? It worked. SO THERE.

Nobody suspects the s3cR3t iNgR3d13nT!1!!!11!!

Fibertastic Pumpkin Muffins
Ingredients
1 flax egg (1 T ground flax + 3 T warm water)
1 C pumpkin pie mix
1/3 C nondairy milk (I used almond)
1/3 C applesauce
2 T oil
2 T molasses
Heaping 1/4 C raw sugar
1 t vanilla
1 C whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 C toasted wheat bran
1/3 C old-fashioned oats
1 T baking powder
1/4 t sea salt
1/2 t cinnamon
1/8 t allspice
1/4 t ginger
1/4 t nutmeg
1/8 t cloves

Preheat your oven to 350˚.

In a medium bowl, combine the flax egg, pumpkin pie mix, milk of your choice, applesauce, oil, molasses, vanilla, and sugar until well mixed. In a large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until just combined. Pour spoonfuls of the batter into greased muffin tins and fill them about 3/4 full. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Et voila! Healthy, fiber-rich muffins that use up a good portion of your ungodly-sized can of pumpkin pie mix. You could also make this with regular canned pumpkin and just up the amount of milk you include, and maybe add some more spices. This recipe is loosely based on the Pumpkin Bran Muffins from Vegan Brunch, but I changed a fair few ingredients and adapted it for my own nefarious needs. By which I mean (obviously) my need to use up the mix.

I’ve still got a bit left, but I’ve discovered another use – as an addition to oatmeal. I’m accustomed to adding regular pumpkin to my oats, but I won’t lie – the additional sugariness of the mix adds an undeniable bit of sweet yumminess to my breakfast.

Anyway, that’s all I’ve got for ya today. I hope I survive this crazy windstorm the Midwest is battling, because one of my best friends is visiting this weekend, and we’re going to geek it up and hang out with Neil Gaiman at the House on the Rock. Yeah, no biggie. ;) Anyway, my posts might be sparse for the next few days, so have a great weekend and a fantastic Halloween! Do you have Halloween plans? Will you dress up? And – more importantly – do you like Neil Gaiman?!