Pumpkin Maple Muffins

By Alison Roman

Pumpkin Maple Muffins
Julia Gartland for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Ali Slagle.
Total Time
50 minutes
Rating
5(8,073)
Comments
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These muffins are just the right amount of sweet, lightly spiced and deeply orange, thanks to the addition of ground turmeric. Browning the butter beforehand may seem like a fussy step, but it provides a vaguely nutty, deeply caramelized flavor that makes for a superlative muffin.

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Ingredients

Yield:12 muffins
  • ½cup/114 grams (1 stick) unsalted butter
  • 1cup/145 grams all-purpose flour
  • 1cup/140 grams whole-wheat flour (or 1 cup/145 grams all-purpose flour)
  • 2teaspoons baking powder
  • 1teaspoon baking soda
  • 1¼teaspoon kosher salt
  • 2teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1teaspoon ground ginger
  • ½teaspoon ground turmeric
  • ¼teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1½cups/355 grams pumpkin purée (about 1 15-ounce can)
  • 3large eggs
  • 1cup/200 grams light brown sugar
  • ⅔cup/150 milliliters maple syrup
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (12 servings)

291 calories; 9 grams fat; 5 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 49 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 28 grams sugars; 5 grams protein; 271 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat oven to 350 degrees.

  2. Step 2

    Spray muffin molds with nonstick spray or line them with paper liners.

  3. Step 3

    Heat butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, swirling occasionally, until the butter has melted, foamed and started to brown, about 5 minutes. Use a whisk to scrape up any browned bits at the bottom of the pot. Remove from heat and set aside.

  4. Step 4

    In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, turmeric and nutmeg.

  5. Step 5

    In a large bowl, whisk together pumpkin, eggs, brown sugar and maple syrup until totally smooth. Whisk in dry ingredients, followed by browned butter.

  6. Step 6

    Divide among prepared muffin tins and bake until the tops are puffed and spring back slightly when pressed, 20 to 25 minutes.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
8,073 user ratings
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Comments

Susan

Great recipe. I bake it regularly. I offer three small tweaks. First, just use the whole 15oz can of pumpkin. It works out fine and then no waste or trying to figure out what to do w small amount of pumpkin. Second, add at least half a cup of chopped toasted walnuts when you add brown butter. The texture and taste of walnuts is a big plus. Last, if you are trying to cut sugar intake, it is still plenty sweet when you reduce sugar by 1/4 cup.

Monika Eaton

Thanks to all the other readers' tips I adjusted the amount of sugar and maple syrup down by a half and still found the muffins plenty sweet.
I also substituted 1/4 cup of flour with a 1/4 cup of flaxseed meal, which I think improved the texture and added even more nutritional goodness.
I will definitely makes these muffins again.

PERFECT NO NOTES

Please do not mess with perfection and bake exactly as written. There are lots of comments saying to cut the sugar in half but I promise that you deserve joy in this lifetime. Just use the prescribed amount of sugar.

Valeria

I’ve made these twice. The first time I followed comments to weigh the brown sugar vs my tendency to use packed brown sugar in a dry measuring cup. I didn’t have ground ginger, so I used what I had (1/2t of allspice). Today I made them with several adjustments (also based on comments). This time I weighed flours (as the recipe states), brown sugar (only 150g), maple syrup (only 100ml). I included spices as the recipe designates. I didn’t know what I was missing until I included the ground ginger, wonderful! I also love nuts, so I toasted 1c chopped walnuts while the over was getting to 350 and I was browning the butter. I also folded in 1/3c of dark chocolate chips with the walnuts at the end. Finally, I topped the 18 muffins the batter made with 1/3c of roasted (no salt) pumpkin seeds just because I had them and it felt like a nice addition. These muffins are great with a cup of coffee in the morning and a cup of tea in the evening. They will be in my regular rotation.

Rebecca

Fantastic recipe I’ve been using for years. One time, I put them in the oven, dusted off my hands, and immediately saw the melted butter sitting forgotten on the counter behind me. I waited 20 minutes in utter despair for them to be done so I could figure out how to salvage them. Incredibly, when I took the butterless muffins out of the oven, they were still perfect and delicious. I’ve been leaving out the butter ever since. If using homemade pumpkin puree, I reduce the maple syrup to 1/3 cup to account for the slight increase in moisture.

K Brady

Made exactly as directed. My family liked them. It made 12 regular muffins. It did seem like a lot of dough to put in each cup, but they came out regular sized, like I would get at a local coffee shop. They requested chocolate chips as an add for the next batch. Very moist with good flavor.

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