When thinking of a nice dessert, pumpkin muffins probably won’t come to your mind first. You’d likely make some hearty recipes out of the pumpkin. Something more traditional, like creamy roasted pumpkin soup or exciting pumpkin risotto.
But this easy recipe for pumpkin muffins can pleasantly surprise you! I admit it was my first time doing them and I was amazed at how stunning they were. Until then, I had actually never tried pumpkin muffins. But now, especially during the pumpkin season, they are likely to become a routine. My girlfriend also liked them very much.
How to make pumpkin muffins
The main ingredient for these lovely muffins is pumpkin puree. If pumpkins are to be found everywhere during the season, why not prepare homemade pumpkin puree. It takes about 45 minutes to bake, but it is well worth it.
However, you should also be able to get pumpkin puree in larger supermarkets. You can find it canned. It tastes quite okay, but you can’t compare it with the homemade one. But that’s with everything, isn’t it? Anything you make at home tastes better than the thing you buy at the store. And most importantly, you know what you add to that.
So how to prepare homemade pumpkin puree?
In the first place, you need to pick a pumpkin. As usual, I use my favorite Hokkaido for this recipe. Its tasty and sweet character stands out perfectly. Halve a small Hokkaido pumpkin and place both halves (flesh facing down) on the baking sheet.
You should get more than half a kilo (17 ounces) of pumpkin puree from the whole pumpkin. But it depends on how big your Hokkaido is. However, you don’t need everything for 12 muffins. But feel free to make a second batch. If not, you can store the rest in the refrigerator (if used within a week) or freeze.
Before baking, you can lightly brush the pumpkin with olive oil. Put it in a preheated oven and let it bake at 375 ° F (or 190 ° C) for about 45 minutes. In the end, poke it with a knife or fork to see if the Hokkaido is soft.
You can mash it with either a potato masher or a fork. If mashing, don’t use the skin as you wouldn’t process it that easily. I use it in other recipes because it contains a lot of vitamins. But when you’re putting the baked pumpkin in a food processor, the skin shouldn’t be a problem. To achieve better texture, add a little milk and mash into the desired consistency.
Dough for pumpkin muffins
Once you have the homemade pumpkin puree ready, combine it with the wet ingredients: oil, milk, honey, eggs, vanilla extract. Add sugar and mix well.
Next, pour this liquid mixture into your dry ingredients. Then just mix it to make a nice dough. But be careful to not overmix!
Mix it nicely with a wooden spoon for about a minute. Thus, the pumpkin muffin batter is not overmixed and the muffins will be nice and fluffy ultimately.
By the way, cinnamon and nutmeg season your pumpkin muffins perfectly. Someone also likes to add dried ginger, allspice, or even a little bit of Chinese five spices. But I’m just sticking to cinnamon and nutmeg.
Finally, prepare the muffin tin. In each cup, add batter almost to the top. If I don’t have enough batter, I leave one cup empty and pour water into it. This works like steam in the oven and also contributes to the fluffiness.
Of course, don’t forget to preheat the oven. I recommend baking pumpkin muffins for the first 5 minutes at 420 ° F (or 215 ° C), thanks to which they puff up immediately. Then lower the temperature to 345 ° F (175 ° C) and bake for another 15 minutes. However, you will know yourself when the muffins are ready. It will tell you its beautiful golden color.
Use chopped almonds as a garnish. And one last thing. Although your muffins will certainly smell extraordinary, be patient and let them cool for at least 15 minutes. Enjoy this easy recipe for pumpkin muffins!
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Pumpkin Muffins
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 12 muffins 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Pumpkin muffins are less of a traditional dessert, but all the more interesting. I guarantee you that they will delight you with their taste! The specific and sweet flavor of Hokkaido pumpkin and the fluffiness of the muffins create a perfect and healthy dessert.
Ingredients
- 280 g pumpkin puree
- 180 g of plain flour
- 2 eggs
- 80 g of brown sugar
- 3 tbsp honey
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp of baking soda
- 60 ml of milk
- 100 ml oil (sunflower)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 nutmeg (freshly ground)
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp of ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger (optional)
Instructions
- First of all, we make pumpkin puree. You can skip this step if you have it canned. Preheat the oven to 375 ° F (or 190 ° C). Halve the Hokkaido, dig out the center with the seeds and the membrane, and place on a baking sheet.
- Gently rub with olive oil and bake for about 45 minutes or until the pumpkin is tender. After baking, allow to cool, remove the skin, and mash with a potato masher or a fork (or use a food processor). Add a little milk for better and creamier consistency.
- Mix the dry ingredients in a larger bowl: flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Stir gently.
- In the second bowl, mix the prepared pumpkin puree, milk, oil, eggs, honey, vanilla extract, and sugar. Mix well and pour into a bowl with dry ingredients.
- Mix everything with a wooden spoon until nicely combined (about a minute). It is not good to overmix the batter. Otherwise, the muffins wouldn’t end up being so fluffy.
- Get a muffin pan and place the pumpkin batter in each cup almost to the top. Bake in the preheated oven for 5 minutes at 420 ° F (or 215 ° C). After five minutes, reduce the temperature to 345 ° F (175 ° C) and bake for another 15 minutes.
- When the pumpkin muffins are nice and golden brown, take them out of the oven and let them cool slightly. Garnish with sliced almonds and enjoy with a cup of hot coffee.
Notes
Hokkaido pumpkin is best for pumpkin muffins.
If you don’t care about calories, you can add regular sugar (150 g in total) instead of brown sugar and honey.
Homemade pumpkin puree certainly tastes better than canned one. It is also very easy to prepare!
- Prep Time: 60 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 12 muffins , for 2 muffins:
- Calories: 388
- Sugar: 27g
- Sodium: 630
- Fat: 17.4
- Saturated Fat: 2.6
- Carbohydrates: 53.1g
- Fiber: 2.6g
- Protein: 6.1g
- Cholesterol: 54mg
