Recipe of the Month – Healthy Pumpkin Muffins

recipe-of-the-month

It’s Fall, y’all. And you know what that means – pumpkin spice everything. We have seen everything from Pumpkin spice tortilla chips to pumpkin spice Oreos and everything in between. Is there a point where it becomes too much? Probably, but we haven’t found that point yet!

In that spirit, this month’s recipe comes to us from the food blog Cookie and Kate. We hope you enjoy these Healthy Pumpkin Muffins as much as we have! Kate does a fantastic job of providing plenty of substitutions and add-ins for these muffins (we heard you, vegans!) and it’s a great way to get some whole grains into your morning (or, if you’re like us, with that afternoon coffee refill). Enjoy!

Image Credit: Cookie and Kate

Image Credit: Cookie and Kate

Recipe from Cookie and Kate
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 23 minutes

Serves: 10 muffins

 

Easy, one bowl, maple-sweetened, pumpkin muffins made with whole wheat flour, oats, coconut oil and spices! These healthy muffins are as light, fluffy and delicious as their coffee shop counterparts. Tip: measure your pumpkin purée by packing it into a dry measuring cup and leveling the top, instead of using a liquid measuring cup.

INGREDIENTS
  • ⅓ cup melted coconut oil or extra-virgin olive oil
  • ½ cup maple syrup or honey
  • 2 eggs, at room temperature
  • 1 cup pumpkin purée
  • ¼ cup milk of choice (I used almond milk)
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon, plus more for sprinkling on top
  • ½ teaspoon ground ginger
  • ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
  • ¼ teaspoon allspice or cloves
  • 1¾ cups whole wheat pastry flour or regular whole wheat flour
  • ⅓ cup old-fashioned oats, plus more for sprinkling on top
INSTRUCTIONS
  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit (165 degrees Celsius). If necessary, grease ten cups of your muffin tin with butter or non-stick cooking spray (my pan is non-stick and didn’t require any grease).
  2. In a large bowl, beat the oil and maple syrup or honey together with a whisk. Add eggs, and beat well. Mix in the pumpkin purée and milk, followed by the baking soda, vanilla extract, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and allspice or cloves.
  3. Add the flour and oats to the bowl and mix with a large spoon, just until combined. If you’d like to add any additional mix-ins, like nuts, chocolate or dried fruit, fold them in now.
  4. Divide the batter evenly between the ten muffin cups. For these muffins, it’s ok to fill the cups a little higher than you normally would. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with a small amount of oats, followed by a sprinkle of cinnamon. Bake muffins for 23 to 26 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.
  5. Place the muffin tin on a cooling rack. These muffins are delicate until they cool down (you have been warned!), so it’s best to wait until they have cooled down to remove them from the tin. You might need to run a butter knife along the outer edge of the muffins to loosen them from the pan. Enjoy muffins as is or with a spread of nut butter or regular butter.
NOTES
Recipe adapted from my honey-sweetened pumpkin bread.
MAKE IT EGG FREE: Readers report that these muffins turn out well with flax eggs!
MAKE IT VEGAN: Use maple syrup, flax eggs and non-dairy milk.
MAKE IT DAIRY FREE: Simply use your non-dairy milk of choice.
MAKE IT GLUTEN FREE: Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free all-purpose blend works well instead of the whole wheat flour.
STORAGE SUGGESTIONS: These muffins keep well in the freezer. Store them in a freezer-safe bag and defrost individual muffins as needed.
CHANGE IT UP: You could really go crazy with add-ins here! Fold in mini dark chocolate chips, chopped dried cranberries or crystallized ginger and/or chopped nuts like pecans or walnuts. Liz topped these muffins with my maple glaze from my pumpkin scones recipe, which sounds like a delicious idea to me!
SERVING SUGGESTIONS: These muffins would be fantastic with homemade pecan butteror coconut butter.