Pumpkin Spice Sugar Rim & Pumpkin Beer

Not sure if you guys have noticed but since Pumpkin has become marketable and means dollar bills to many food and beverage companies there fall is totally creeping into summer... (can we instead extend it into winter since around March or April I want to move since I am so tired of winter?!) But back to fall.  Why do people start selling pumpkin spice lattes and pumpkin beer in the end of July.. yes even pumpkin beer in JULY?! I just cannot understand this. As much as I love Fall, I love summer maybe more since Fall inevitably means that Winter is not too far behind. Winter means snow and shoveling... notw that I own a home it also means ridiculous heating bills. So suck it to all those companies giving me Fall in the middle of Summer

**end rant**

Now that it is officially Fall- Let the pumpkin games begin! I can enter back into that mode of comfort, warmth and all things pumpkin. This is the most wonderful time of fall, sunny, still warm, but the need for a sweater every now and again. My favorite of all the pumpkin things is craft beer- ZOMG it's totally pumpkin beer season guys! Officially- but I couldn't hold out and started last week, alright.... confession I slipping and had a Dogfish Head Punkin' Labor Day weekend! Oooooohhh the humanity. Pumpkin beer is my weakness. Especially with the right balance of spices.

Spiked Foodgasm: Pumpkin Spice Ale Muffins with a Spiced Glaze

Why is this a Foodgasm? 

It's fall and you all know how I am super stoked about pumpkin.... well now you can take that up 10 notches because I found a way to combine my love of pumpkin ale with my pumpkin baking!! I knew I had to create a recipe for pumpkin muffins, but then I remembered my Bluepoint Blueberry Muffins and I knew this needed some local craft pumpkin spice ale. But this time I added a little fat just to make them softer. I really like how the flavors are balanced well- I even used some lemon zest to brighten up the flavors so the spice didn't get lost, thanks to a tip from my friend Jenni at Pastry Chef Online. As if the muffins were not amazing enough already, I knew I wanted to just add another touch, so I created a simple glaze to drizzle over the top! Don't you just wanna lick your screen right now?

Here is how I lightened this- I used only an eighth cup of canola oil, nonfat Greek yogurt and pumpkin purée in place if some of the missing fat. The Greek yogurt and pumpkin keep these muffins nice and moist! With all the flavor and the texture you will NEVER know this was low fat!

For this recipe I used Southampton Pumpkin Ale.This craft beer, local to long island, has a nice balance of pumpkin and spice flavor while still retaining a nice hoppi-ness!