Mini Pumpkin Muffins

I love a great muffin recipe, especially mini muffins. My Apple Cider Donuts, Banana Mini Muffins, Mini Chocolate Chip Muffins and Mini Blueberry Muffins are mini muffin recipes from the blog I absolutely love. These mini pumpkin muffins are another mini muffin recipe I know you will love. 

• Easy to make. These pumpkin cinnamon mini muffins are light, fluffy and and so simple to make. All you need to make them is one bowl, a whisk and a mini muffin pan. 
• Perfect for breakfast and snacking. These mini pumpkin muffins are perfect for busy school mornings or as a quick two bite snack. They’re kid friendly and very affordable to make.

This mini pumpkin muffin recipe requires only a handful of simple ingredients to make and you probably already have them in your pantry and fridge. 

Pumpkin Mini Muffins

• Dry Ingredients: Gather all purpose flour, baking powder, ground spices (cinnamon, ginger, all spice, nutmeg, cloves)  and salt. 
• Wet Ingredients: Gather butter, light brown sugar, sugar, an egg, vanilla extract, pumpkin puree and milk.

Cinnamon Sugar Coating

Gather melted butter, granulated sugar and ground cinnamon.

These pumpkin mini muffins are as easy to make as they are delicious. Here are my recommended substitutions to make these muffins if you need them.

• All purpose flour: This recipe hasn’t been tested with an alternative flour. However, if you want to make this recipe gluten free, use a good 1-1 flour and measure by weight (210 g) rather than cups.
• Baking Powder: Make sure the baking powder is fresh and in date for the best rise and overall texture of the pumpkin mini muffins. 
• Ground Spices: The ground spices in this muffin recipe are a classic flavors to pair with pumpkin. Feel free to use any blend of ground spices.  Pumpkin spice would be a natural choice. 
• Unsalted Butter: Use salted butter if needed. Just make sure to omit the added teaspoon of salt listed in the recipe. Plant based or dairy free butter can also be used if needed. 
• Granulated Sugar and Light Brown Sugar: Make these pumpkin cinnamon sugar mini muffins refined sugar free by swapping the brown sugar and granulated with maple sugar. 
• Egg: This recipe hasn’t been tested without eggs. 
• Canned Pumpkin Puree: You can use the same amount of fresh pumpkin puree if you have some on hand. Do not use pumpkin pie filling.
• Vanilla Extract: This is purely for another layer of flavor. Feel free to leave out if you don’t have any on hand. 
• Milk: Feel free to use your preferred milk.

Variations

• Streusel Mini Pumpkin Muffins: Mix ¼ c (30g) all purpose flour, 2 tablespoon (25 g) light brown sugar and ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon together until well combined.  Work 2 tablespoon (26g) small evenly cubed unsalted butter until the mixture resembles a sand like texture. Set in the fridge until the muffins are ready. Top each mini pumpkin muffin with about 1 teaspoon of streusel before baking. 
• Dairy Free Pumpkin Muffins: Replace the butter with vegan or dairy free butter. The egg can be replaced with an egg replacer or with a flax seed “egg.”
• Mini Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins: Mix ½ cup mini chocolate chips into the pumpkin muffin batter.

Learn how to make mini pumpkin muffins in a few easy steps.

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F (190 C). Lightly grease a 24 ct. mini muffin pan. In a mixing bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, ground spices and salt together until well combined.
2. Whisk the melted and cooled butter, light brown sugar, sugar,  egg, vanilla extract, pumpkin puree and milk together until smooth and well combined. Whisk in the dry ingredients with the wet until just combined until no streaks of flour are visible. Make sure not to overmix.  
3. Use a tablespoon sized cookie scoop to scoop the pumpkin mini muffin batter into each of the prepared mini muffin wells in the pan. Bake the muffins for 10 - 12 minutes or until the sides of the muffins are lightly golden and the tops bounce back quickly when lightly pressed. Cool the muffins in the pan for 5 minutes. Gently remove them from the pan to cool further on a cooling rack. There will be batter leftover to make 12 more mini pumpkin muffins. Use a paper towel to wipe away any leftover pumpkin muffin in the muffin pan. Lightly grease 12 mini muffin wells, scoop the remaining batter into the pan, bake and cool.

4. While the muffins cool, melt the butter in a small bowl. Whisk the cinnamon and sugar together in another bowl. Quickly dip the cooled pumpkin mini muffins into the melted butter. Quickly roll the entire mini muffin into the cinnamon sugar mixture. Place each cinnamon sugar pumpkin muffin on the cooling rack. Repeat until all the mini muffins are coated in the sweet and crunchy coating and enjoy!

M’s Expert Tips

• Bring cold ingredients to room temperature. This allows the ingredients to mix together more evenly which requires less mixing, resulting in soft, fluffy and moist muffins.
• Use a small cookie scoop: This is the easiest, quickest and cleanest way to get perfect mini muffins. Each pumpkin muffin is about 1 tablespoon (15 ml). 
• Fully preheat the oven. Ovens need about 20 - 30 minutes to fully preheat. 
• Tip: Use up the last few tablespoons of pumpkin puree by making a pumpkin mug cake.

Other Pumpkin Recipes to Try

• Pumpkin Bundt Cake
• Pumpkin Donuts
• Pumpkin Banana Muffins
• Starbucks Pumpkin Bread Recipe

If you try this Mini Pumpkin Muffins recipe please rate the recipe and leave a comment below. Doing so helps other readers decide if this is a great recipe to bake. Don’t forget to tag me on Instagram using @olivesnthyme so I can see what you’re baking!