POSITIVELY THE BEST PUMPKIN MUFFINS

My husband and I both decided that these were the best pumpkin muffins yet that we have had the pleasure of eating. I pulled two of them apart and placed a pat of real butter in between them while they were still hot out of the oven...they did not last long. The scents and flavors of the cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg made their presence known with every bite.

1 (16oz.) can pure pumpkin
1 cup cooking oil
3 cups sugar
3 large eggs
3 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
1 cup golden raisins
paper baking muffin cups

Place pumpkin through cloves in mixing bowl and beat with electric mixer until smooth, about 2 minutes until well blended. Stir in nuts and raisins.  Spoon batter into paper-lined muffin tins using a 1/4 cup measure. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove and cool on clean dishtowels.

"A book reads the better which is our own, and has been so long known to us, that we know the topography of its blots, and dog's ears, and can trace the dirt in it to having read it at tea with buttered muffins."~Charles Lamb, Last Essays of Elia, 1833