Healthy Spiced Butternut Squash Muffins

I found these on Allrecipes.com this morning while searching for a recipe to use up some cooked squash. They rose beautifully, and were so light and fluffy that it was hard to believe they were healthy! The original posting was by Lindsay Ho. I made a few changes in the recipe which I will post here. The original called for 1/2 c sugar, but for us 1/3 c was just perfect. Proceed according to your family's preferences :). I also added chocolate chips and cinnamon chips to the tops, which the kids loved!

• Ready In: 30 mins
• Serves: 12

Ingredients

• 3⁄4 cup  butternut squash, cooked and pureed (original calls for 1 cup)
• 1 1⁄2 cups white whole wheat flour
• 2  teaspoons baking powder
• 1⁄3 cup white sugar
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 1  teaspoon cinnamon
• 1⁄4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1⁄4 teaspoon clove
• 1⁄4 teaspoon ginger
• 3⁄4 cup milk
• 1  egg, beaten
• 1  tablespoon butter, melted
•  cinnamon baking chips (optional)
•  chocolate chips (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease a 12 cup muffin pan.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, white sugar, salt and pumpkin pie spice.
3. In a medium bowl, thoroughly mix together milk, egg and butter. Stir in squash. Fold the squash mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened.
4. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin pan, filling cups about 1/2 full.
5. If desired, drop a few chocolate chips or cinnamon chips on top of the batter.
6. Bake 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove from muffin pan and cool on a wire rack.
7. Please note: From reviews on Allrecipes the cooling time is really important; apparently these are pretty doughy when they first come out of the oven.