Fall is my very favorite season and I have asked a few of my favorite bloggers to share some of their fall favorites here with you.  I am so excited to have Kristen from Capturing Joy with Kristen Duke sharing some Pumpkin Muffins with some yummy additions as part of The Idea Room Fall Festival!

Hi, I’m Kristen, and I’m so happy to be back here at The Idea Room! I used to contribute weekly photography tips , then got overwhelmed with life and needed to pare down. Amy’s blog introduced me to the exciting online world, and I continue to LOVE her and what she shares with all of us. I’ve been blessed to get to know her and her family on a personal level, and am very impressed with the love they have for each other. Someone to look up to, indeed. I blog at Capturing Joy all about life, the things I make, and the pictures I take. Come on over and visit sometime! Today I am sharing with you a recipe that I look forward to making every Fall, Moist Pumpkin Muffins, and I added some extra yumminess for the first time to share with all of you.

Let me start by saying these moist pumpkin muffins are delicious without anything inside. I just wanted to get creative and add 2 of my favorite cookie ingredients: craisins and chocolate chips. Strangely, I don’t like raisins a lot, but I LOVE craisins! When I first was introduced to these muffins 5 years ago, I couldn’t believe the deliciousness.

I just love a picture of orange batter…

I decided to make a batch of mini muffins (24) as well as standard size muffins (12) and then had enough for a mini loaf, too!

My girls helped me, and I had them place craisins on top so they would show through the cooked muffin nicely.

I like to be able to see the texture.

Oh my goodness, they turned out so delicious! I didn’t realize the most delectable pumpkin muffin could get any better!

Can you see the shiny moistness oozing out of these pictures? Heaven, I tell ya.

Moist Pumpkin Muffins with Craisins & Chocolate Chips

Blend:

5 eggs

1 1/4 cup oil

Mix in:

1 can pumpkin

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

2 small pkg. vanilla pudding powder

ADD:

1 Tsp. soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Fold in 1/2 cup chocolate chips (or more)

1/2 cup craisins (or more)

Bake at 325 degrees, muffins for 20 minutes, full loaf 1 hour. Oven temperatures may vary, stick a toothpick in the center to check for gooey-ness.

They were fantastic right out of the oven, but I prefer my baked goods chilled, so I pop them in the fridge and fully enjoy the texture of the craisins and chocolate chips. I promise, you can’t go wrong with these babies, definitely a crowd pleaser! I’d love to hear if you make them;)

Thanks so much Kristen!  I am so lucky to consider her a friend.  I have enjoyed having her in my home a few times and have her take our family pictures!  Love learning from her and being inspired by her as a friend!  Be sure to head on over to her site for some amazing photos and fun ideas!  –Amy

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In other news…Remember when I shared a fun craft night with Poppy Seed Crafts?  Well neither one of us realized at the time that we had scheduled the craft night on the same night as women’s meeting where we meet and listen to some of the leaders in our church.  So…we debated back and forth about what to do and have received some questions about whether we would change it. 

Ultimately, we decided to change it so that more of you could come and join us and we could attend the meeting.  So sorry about that big snafu!  A huge oversight on our end.  The new date is pending but should be sometime in the later half of October.  We will do another post and update you on the new time.  We are also honoring the giveaway.  The winner is Megan Buhler.  Send me an email Megan and we will get you hooked up! [email protected]

So if you registered and are unable to make the October night, we will refund you your fees completely.  So sorry for all the craziness.  I hope some of you will be able to join us.

Fall is my very favorite season and I have asked a few of my favorite bloggers to share some of their fall favorites here with you.  I am so excited to have Ashley and Whitney from Shanty 2 Chic sharing their classy Fall Front Porch Pumpkin Plantar as part of The Idea Room Fall Festival!

Hey there! We are the Shanty Sisters (Ashley and Whitney) from Shanty2chic and we are so thrilled that Amy asked us to share a fun, fall project with you all!

Our latest shopping trip included an Ikea clearance item that we “shantied up” and repurposed for a front porch fall display!

It is some sort of bath stool/storage but we thought it would make the perfect “planter style box” for a front porch

Assembled without the top. It only took 3 minutes to put together! Score!!

We added four wooden finials, that you can purchase at Lowe’s, to each corner. These finials are a favorite of ours

To attach them to the corners, we pre-drilled a small hole for each finial to screw into.

another quick 3-4 minutes

We finished it with 1 coat of Rust-oleum Espresso spray paint in satin and filled it with cute pumpkins

We spent $20 on this project, completed it in 20 minutes and we now have a versatile piece for our front porch displays, year-round! Thank you so much to Amy for asking us to share with you all today! We hope you enjoyed our fall project and hope that you join us on our blog www.shanty-2-chic.com!