Gluten Free Pumpkin Cornbread Muffins

Welcome fall with these light and fluffy Gluten Free Pumpkin Cornbread Muffins. They’re slightly sweet with a touch of cinnamon and a hint of pumpkin. Hello holidays!

ME BEFORE THE RECIPE…

Sha-BAM! Ya’ll ready for this?! C’mon now…whose ready for Thanksgiving???! Well, you better be cuz it’s only 3 days away. That’s 1-2-3. No two and a halves, no two and three quarters. Thanksgiving ain’t just some unruly three year old child that you can coerce with your non-threatening counting. Nope, there is no delaying the inevitable. You’re either ready for it or you’re not, and well…

I’M NOT!!!

Let me clarify. I’m TOTALLY ready to eat all the good food. No question about that. What I’m not ready for is having my family all come. I’ve been telling myself for the past week that I’m going to deep clean, replace my cracked windshield, hang pictures, and finish furnishing the loft.

Hmmm…does it count if I’ve thought about doing those things???

No joke, I was sure Ben was going to kick me to the curb today if I didn’t finally call about getting my windshield replaced. I figured if I still wanted a place to sleep tonight, I should probably at least check that one off the list.

I just got really bust doing super important things like making another completely sarcastic YouTube video. Ben says I shouldn’t quit my day job. Wait, I didn’t even know it was possible to quit being a mom…

Anyway, back to Thanksgiving prep. I think Ben stresses out about my family coming more than I do. I figure I’m already enough of a neat freak, so even on my messiest of days, our home is pretty spic and span. But Ben worries over all the minor details like making sure every bathroom has enough of those wet booty wipes and blowing every little leaf off the front porch and changing the air filters just in case my dad repeats one harmless comment he made 10 years ago about replacing our air filters on a routine basis.

It’s all that pressure of being the perfect son-in-law. I keep reminding him that my parents legitimately like him more than me, but he continues to impress.

In fact, I almost became a widow this holiday because Ben and his determination that our house be flawless. He was insistent that we remove this barely noticeable black smudge by one of our vaulted ceiling windows. So, he buys himself a 16 foot ladder and asks me to “securely” hold the bottom while he starts climbing up, magic eraser in hand. He made it about halfway before he decided that the bending, wobbling, and sliding of the ladder against the wall was not such a fabulous idea.

Thanks babe, now we have a black smudge AND ladder marks going up our wall. It’s the effort that counts, right?

HERE COMES THE RECIPE…

One thing I have been doing to prepare for Thanksgiving is prepping some menu items in advance. Now I know I can’t freeze a salad and let’s face it, thawed out mashed potatoes are nothing to write home about, but baked goods freeze up like champs.

In my freezer, I’ve already got 4 loaves of banana bread that we can enjoy for a morning treat, a pie crust just waiting to be rolled out Thanksgiving day, and a batch of these Gluten Free Pumpkin Cornbread Muffins that can be served alongside pretty much any Thanksgiving or post Thanksgiving leftovers meal.

Now let’s break the ice here with pumpkin cornbread . First of all, have you ever tried it? If yes, you know how glorious they can be. If not, well let me introduce you. Here’s pumpkin. Here’s cornbread. They taste good together. That’s all the introduction you need.

With pumpkin being the star of pies, cheesecakes, and cookies every year, I thought it was about time to give this versatile squash a savory makeover. It’s nice to eat pumpkin in it’s natural goodness every once in a while.

These pumpkin cornbread muffins have a slight hint of pumpkin with a pinch of cinnamon. It’s just enough to make you think, “Oh yeah, it is fall!” Not only does the pumpkin add additional flavor, but it also ensures the cornbread is tender and moist, not overly dry and crumbly like most cornbreads tend to be, especially gluten free.

You could most definitely serve these instead of or alongside a batch of homemade rolls, but let’s face it, gluten free bread is just not that amazing. Go ahead and argue with me. Seriously, if you can find me one single recipe or brand for pre-made sensational gluten free rolls…well, I won’t give you anything because I’m broke, but I will give you an extremely emotional and overly awkward embrace of gratitude. Can’t turn that offer down now can you?!

So yeah, basically we’re skipping the Thanksgiving rolls over here and choosing to inhale our carbs via stuffing and cornbread. You down with that?

But if you are insistent on rolls for Thanksgiving day, whip up these cornbread muffins for breakfast the next morning. Or you could enjoy these as a side dish with your leftover turkey chili that I’m almost positive you’re gonna make with all your dirty birdy leftovers.

However you enjoy them, you WILL enjoy them. Uh, that came out a little creepy, like I am some stalker hypnotist demanding you make them…or else. Haha! I just meant, you will for sure want to make them because they’re just that dang yummy.

Well peeps, I hope you are all having a fantastic start to your holiday week. Enjoy those salads the next few days, as I know you all will, so you can eat all the stuffing, turkey, and pie you can handle come Thanksgiving Day. Gobble, gobble.