Pumpkin Oatmeal Muffins

I thought I would experiment with some pumpkin recipes this week, and I started off this morning with pumpkin oatmeal muffins, a new-to-me recipe from Recipezaar, posted by Engineer in the Kitchen that has the added interest of being vegan. This, I believe, is a bit of a case of there can be too much of a good thing. In this instance, it's "low fat" and I'm going to try this recipe again and replace the applesauce with oil. I used muffin papers (come on, it's the week of Halloween, I have a 4-year-old and a 6-year-old, and I have these cute Halloween muffin papers in my cupboard), and the lack of oil/fat in these muffins made them stick so badly to the papers that a good muffin was lost. This could probably be avoided by not using muffin papers and instead greasing muffin cups, but I'm thinking that 1/4 c. of oil for 12 muffins is not going to kill me but might keep the muffins from sticking to the papers! Otherwise, the texture was nice: soft but firm. The flavor was good, pumpkin with a slight earthy flavor from the oats. Chopped nuts, raisins, chopped crystallized ginger, chopped dried pineapple, or other dried berries would all be good additions to these muffins. I might also experiment with substituting wheat flour for some of the all purpose flour. All in all, I'd say that this has the makings of a great breakfast muffin.

1 c. oats (I used old fashioned)
1 1/2 c. all purpose flour
1/2 c. packed brown sugar (I used light brown)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp sea salt (I used kosher)
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 c. rice milk (I used Silk original soy milk)
1 c. canned pumpkin
1/4 c. applesauce (I will use vegetable oil next time

1. Blend the oats in a blender or food processor until they are crumbs (not quite flour).
2. In a large bowl, mix the first nine ingredients (oats through baking soda).
3. In a small bowl, mix the remaining three ingredients.
4. Stir the wet mixture into the dry mix until moistened.
5. Fill muffin tins (6 Texas sized or 12 regular) and bake at 400 degrees F, 25 minutes for Texas and 18 minutes for regular.