Gluten Free: Pumpkin Doughnut-Muffins

Love it or loathe it, pumpkin is inescapable at this time of year. Whether you're a dress-in-full-costume-and-scare-the-neighbours type of person, or a turn-off-all-the-lights-and-pretend-you're-not-in sort (or anything in between), I'm quite sure that a pumpkin has made its way into your kitchen this month. We have countless suggestions on what to do with them, but this is a tasty way to use up your leftover roasted pumpkin.

I was going to call these baked doughnuty muffins, 'duffins', but it turns out that Bea's of Bloomsbury already did that, then Starbucks took the idea and people weren't happy. In the spirit of peacekeeping, I'm just sticking with doughnut-muffins. Whatever you call them, they're ridiculously easy to prepare, and when pumpkins aren't in season the recipe works with roasted sweet potato, carrot or parsnip.

Pumpkin doughnut-muffins (makes 12 regular muffins or 48 mini muffins)
You'll need:

• 250g gluten free self raising flour mix
• 200g caster sugar
• 3 tbsp maple syrup
• 1½ tsp mixed spice (or pumpkin pie spice if you have it)
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 100g roasted pumpkin
• 200g creme fraiche (buttermilk, natural yoghurt of sour cream works too)
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil

Make it!

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4.
2. Put everything in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth, scraping down the sides to make sure it's all mixed. Alternatively, put all the ingredients in a big bowl and combine with a stick blender.
3. (If you don't have anything like that, simply mash the pumpkin then beat everything together with a spoon.)
4. Pour the mixture into greased or lined muffin tins and bake for 15 minutes for mini muffins/25 minutes for regular muffins.
5. Leave to cool slightly before turning out and sprinkling with a little sugar.