Well, ’tis the season! Falling leaves, the first fire in the fireplace, and the kids are getting serious about their Halloween costumes. Personally, I’m fighting a losing battle with the giant aisle of Halloween candy in the supermarket, and the Southern husband isn’t helping any by bringing home a three pound bag of fun-sized versions from Costco. It’s time to throw in the towel and make adorable pumpkin doughnut muffins.
These festive muffins are made with the usual muffin ingredients of butter, flour, etc…but the real magic comes with a few extra added goodies that you don’t usually find in other muffins. First is pumpkin puree, which you should be able to find in big stacks in your supermarket right about now. Make sure you get plain pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling. Next is a little bit of buttermilk, which gives the muffin a great tender texture (and if you have leftover buttermilk you can make ricotta cheese! Double win!).
And last but not least is what happens to these muffins after they are all nice and baked. You brush them all over with melted butter, and then roll them in a mixture of cinnamon and sugar. Do not, not, not skip this step. It’s what sends these muffins over the edge into doughnut territory. It’s mandatory. It’s wonderful. And it’s better than all the fun-sized Almond Joys in the world.
Which doesn’t mean I won’t be eating a good-sized number of fun-sized Almond Joys, just for the record.
PrintPumpkin Doughnut Muffins
Yield: 12 muffins 1x
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeIngredients
- 1 1/4 sticks butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
- 3 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pan
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/3 cup buttermilk
- 1 1/4 cups pure pumpkin puree (from a 15-ounce can)
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Butter and flour 12 standard muffin cups.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and allspice.
- In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk and pumpkin puree.
- In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, scraping down bowl as needed. With mixer on low, add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with two additions pumpkin mixture, and beat to combine.
- Spoon 1/3 cup batter into each muffin cup and bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean, about 30 minutes.
- Combine granulated sugar and cinnamon. Let muffins cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack. Working with one at a time, remove muffins from pan, brush all over with butter, then toss to coat in sugar mixture.
- Let muffins cool completely on a wire rack and serve.
Pumpkin Doughnut Muffins, from Everyday Food
Hi there! I’m Kate, and I’m a recipe writer, food photographer and devoted bacon lover. I started Framed Cooks in 2009, and my mission is to create and share family-friendly recipes that make cooking both easy and fun…yes, I said FUN! My kitchen is my happy place, and I want yours to be that place too. Let’s cook together!
OMG those sound soooooooo good!! I can’t believe I haven’t baked any pumpkin stuff yet! Maybe I should start with these…. xD
You definitely should – happy pumpkin!
yummy yummy yummy! these look sooooo delicious! I’m pinning them for sure!
Hurray – I love pins! Especially pumpkin ones! :)
I haven’t QUITE given into the halloween candy. Yet. I still have a few days. :P But the pumpkin…OH THE PUMPKIN! I can’t get enough of it. I’ve seen these around the blogosphere lately and I WANT.
You are a better woman than I then…I’ve totally given in! It was inevitable..
I have all the stuff I need to make these. We are supposed to get a hurricane on Monday, so I plan to cook and bake a lot of food tomorrow to eat out of hand..These sound great!
I know, we are in the hurricane track too – stay safe!
Thanks for another yummy recipe Kate! Pumpkin is really good for you so I’m sure it will cancel out all the candy. I am going to give this recipe a try this weekend (my family devours anything with cinnamon in it) and bake them in a min-muffin pan so they will be like donut holes that we can just pop in our mouths.
Winnie – we will be thinking safe thoughts for your family and home.
Mini muffins are a GREAT idea (and that way it’s totally allowed that you can have more than one!)
Wow those look and sound good. I am going to make them this weekend.
Just in time for Halloween! Enjoy.
They look very far-out in a good way. If I use salted butter by how much would I need to reduce the salt by. I have all the other ingredients and don’t want to go to the store for unsalted butter as would like to make them tomorrow. Thanks!
I think if you cut the salt in half you would be just fine. Happy baking!
i just made these and they taste amazing! my card swap ladies are going to love them! thanks for another great recipe that makes me look like a rock star :)
You are so welcome, you rock star you! :)
Just made these. Incredible! Made mini muffins and cooked for 15 min. Will make many times. Thank you for a great recipe!
Mini pumpkin muffins! Hurray (and I wish I had one right this minute!) :)
Made these tonight (in my “mini-muffin” pan, using homemade pumpkin puree I froze last fall) and wow, they *were* delicious. Emphasis on WERE. My 9 yr old nephew took the first bite and exclaimed, “How did I live without you?!” And then he ate the whole plate! I’ll definitely be making these again. Thank you!
Oh my gosh, I love this story!! Sounds like you are the best aunt in the world. :)