I love fall and the smells, colors, and sounds that it brings! I have been getting excited about apples, pumpkins, harvest festivals, and simply enjoying a hot cup of homemade cocoa as the cold weather sets in. Today we made some yummy healthy pumpkin muffins with good wholesome ingredients and it turned out heavenly! They were light, fluffy, and full of rich flavor. They are being consumed very quickly around here. The kids and I enjoyed them over a hot cup of homemade cocoa…ahh! The sugar and oil in this recipe can be easily adapted to what you have on hand. We just prefer these more natural choices.
Ingredients:
2 cups pumpkin puree (or 1 – 15 oz can)
1 cup coconut oil, melted
2 cups rapadura/sucanat (a natural unrefined whole cane sugar – learn more here)
4 eggs
3 cups & 2 Tablespoons whole wheat flour (I used a combination of whole wheat & spelt)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cloves
Directions:
1. In a large bowl, combine pumpkin puree, coconut oil, eggs, and sugar. Mix until smooth.
2. In a second bowl, combine all the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
3. Gently fold the dry ingredients into the first bowl of wet ingredients. Gently fold in, just until mixed. Do not overmix.
4. Grease your pans or muffin tins. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes for muffins or 45 minutes for loaf pan.
Yield: 2 loaf pans, or 20-24 muffins
For a cup of homemade cocoa to accompany your muffins, mix 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder with 1 1/2 tablespoons of honey in 8 oz of water or drizzle this homemade chocolate syrup into hot water to your taste. Enjoy!
These are a huge hit at my house! Just made a batch with gluten-free baking mix (bob’s red mill brand) and the flaxseed meal-water sub for the eggs, as my toddler is gluten and egg intolerant. You would never know I made the substitution. They still taste amazing
. Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe!
Hello! This is my first time commenting on your blog. I have been so fascinated with all your recipes that I have tried 3 in last couple of weeks. The pumpkin bread looks great too and I look forward to making/eating that as well. I noticed that you are using a stainless steel straw. Can you please tell me what brand you buy? Thanks!
We use the Endurance stainless steel straws available through Amazon.
If this post suddenly gained points … it’s because I fell asleep looking for comments and should prove that the search engine algorithms counts the time visitors stay on your site to read posts.
Hi Lindsay,
I am planning to bake these day, but I am out of coconut oil. Can I just use butter instead?
Made these muffins this afternoon with my son. They are delicious, and my house smells wonderful now too. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Hi Lindsay,
Thank you for the recipe! I am planning to make it, and was wondering–if I use regular sugar, should I use 2 cups white sugar, or 1 cup white and 1 cup brown sugar? Maybe it doesn’t matter. I just wondered if brown sugar might make it too soft.
Thanks!
Nancy
The original recipe I adapted this from just used white sugar. You could probably do it whichever way you want.
This might be a silly question but I have never made anything with Pumpkin. I come from Mexico and we don’t cook with it much.. so my question is: to make pumpkin puree can i just chop of the pumpkin and put it in the Blendtec to puree?
You would need to cook the pumpkin first by baking it in the oven and then you could certainly blend it in a blender to puree.
I had to report back in on these, Lindsay – these muffins have the BEST texture and loveliest flavor! They were truly *the* perfect muffin! And, they’re so simple. Usually I have “muffin issues” – they stick to the pan, they’re overcooked, they’re undercooked – you know, I just can’t get it right. Well, these worked like a charm
My family went bonkers over them and I’m making them again today . . .
Yah! So glad to hear it!
What parts spelt to whole wheat flour did you use? Also, did you use soft wheat or hard wheat? I am still trying to figure out the combinations of flours to get that light fluffy muffin texture and have yet to find it!
Ok I know I am off topic here but Lindsay have you noticed how much your kids have grown since the baby was born? I have noticed this in my own extended family as well, once you bring home a new baby the older kids just seem to have gotten so much bigger! (I just noticed this from looking at your pictures)
No soaking? I was going to make a GF version of these with millet, but when I looked over the recipe, I didn’t see any way to soak it. Hmm. Maybe cutting the oil in half and replacing it with whole yogurt or kefir?
I haven’t been soaking a lot lately honestly. From my experience, your best bet would be to soak the flour in the oil with a couple tablespoons kefir or yogurt and then use honey instead of sugar (probably 1 1/3 cups), so that you have enough liquid to keep it from being too dry and stiff.
Believe me, I understand! You have a new baby! I’m expecting my fourth (in four years), and it usually takes me about 3 months to get back into a good swing of things after I have a new baby. Soaking, although it doesn’t really require extra work, does require forethought and that can be a problem when your main thoughts are what you can get done before Baby needs nursed again.
I will try using the oil with kefir. I don’t have honey to use (it’s at a premium around here, so we use it sparingly, spread on things so we get the raw benefits) but I have maple syrup which would be tasty with the pumpkin. I already have my squash baked, and I’m going to grind the flour to soak today! Thanks, Lindsay, and I hope you are having a wonderful fall with your little ones
My husband and I are driving to church eating these muffins. They are delicious!! My whole family loves them. I followed your exact recipe and they came out perfect. They have a really good texture and are so moist. Thanks for the recipe!
Glad you enjoyed them! My husband was also in heaven when he tried them…he said they were the best muffins I had ever made.
We did a mix of Spelt and Sorghum flour and cut back a little on the sucanat (the pumpkin I can is super sweet) – very yummy, thanks.
If I could only eat one thing for the rest of my life, muffins is a first choice for me so this post is hitting my love language! I love baking muffins and I will definitely be giving this recipe a go! Thanks for sharing!
You’re killing me with all the autumn stuff! I love fall & all the yummy smells & sights & tastes that go along with it! Unfortunately I’m out of the country for fall … with no oven
( . I guess I’ll have to come up with some new fally experiences!
WOW! That is a lot of sucanat! They must be really sweet.
No, they are perfect! I actually cut it significantly back from the original recipe I adapted this from. That recipe had 2 2/3 cups! I am sure you can cut it back further if you desire…but it’s a treat anyway for us.
we love pumpkin bread! this looks close to our recipe though we use less oil and make it gluten-free! Thanks for sharing!
I was definitely needing to try something new. Thank you
Yummyyyyyyy!! Sounds wonderful! I didn’t see any instructions on soaking flour. Do you think it would be too difficult to maybe adapt this recipe to a soaked version? Thanks so much!
I shared with Lisa above that I would soak as follows: From my experience, your best bet would be to soak the flour in the oil with a couple tablespoons kefir or yogurt and then add honey instead of sugar (probably 1 1/3 cups), so that you have enough liquid to keep it from being too dry and stiff. So soak with flour, honey, oil, and acid medium for best results before adding the remaining ingredients.
I did this today, just as you suggested, and the soaking mixture was quite moist. I was concerned it would be too moist after adding 4 eggs and the pumpkin, but they actually turned out lovely and moist. The best part for me was that they rose a good amount, which i don’t usually get when using freshly ground, whole wheat flour
thanks, Lindsay!
i used yogurt to soak for about 7 hours. Family says they are yummy! I’m waiting till morning to have mine, but they smell incredible! I added some butterscotch chips to the last batch, just for fun
Good to know! Thanks for sharing your success in soaking with us!
This recipe looks great! I can’t wait to try it. Thank you for sharing. God Bless you.
My kids are somewhat picky about the muffin they eat but they love pumpkin! Thanks for this new version to try.
This looks great! Thanks for sharing. Pumkin is so healthy and so available this time of year I am always trying to find new ways of getting it eaten up. I use ground flax seeds instead of eggs (1 tbsp of ground seeds and about 2 tbsp of water=1 egg) to substitute the eggs and up the nutritional content and it has worked great. (also great, if there are no eggs in the fridge and I still want to bake:)
Okay, I’m so curious how you know about the flax seed egg substitute?? lol That is so interesting! I want to try it. Why would you want to substitute the egg? To make it vegan?
You can find my recipe for flax seed binder as a egg substitute here. I use it alot too when I run low on eggs. I find it works best using half and half rather than replacing all the eggs with this flax seed binder.
These look simple enough for me to tackle today – we love pumpkin! Thanks, Lindsay.
Delightful! Can hardly wait to try it. Pumpkin recipes are one of my favorite treats to make in the fall!
oh I love your choice of spices! I need to check over my recipe and see if we use the same ones or if I should do some adapting.
I LOVE pumpkin bread! There is something satisfying in roasting a pumpkin and then making pumpkin bread, yummy! Thanks for this recipe! I never thought to use coconut oil instead of vegetable oil.