Best Ever Pumpkin Muffins

Oct 6th, 2010 // Breakfast, Most Popular, Recipes, Snacks

I consider myself a bit of a pumpkin muffin connoisseur. More accurately, I’m an all-forms-pumpkin-bread connoisseur. Most pumpkin breads and pumpkin muffins are expectantly dense like banana bread and when done right they are also moist and delicious. This muffin is an entirely different experience and the best part about it is that we sort of happened upon the recipe by accident.

It all started with a can of Libby’s 100% pure pumpkin. The pumpkin has similar qualities to a mashed up banana so I figured we could loosely follow our banana nut muffin recipe from a few months back.

We started with most of the same basic ingredients: flour, sugar, etc. but then I realized we were out of applesauce which is one of our go-to muffin ingredients.

Thinking quickly, we adjusted the recipe and added a new element – Greek Yogurt.

The result was a delightfully airy yet moist pumpkin muffin the likes of which I’ve never tasted. It was not dense at all. So good that we could not stop eating them. All day long my kid begged for more. I had to hide them in a tin for fear he’d eat the entire batch in one morning. Now for the recipe…

Best Ever Pumpkin Muffin Recipe

Prep Time: 15 mins  Cooking Time: 8 min to 10 mins

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 can 100% pure pumpkin
2 large eggs lightly beaten
1/2 cup canola oil or vegetable oil
1/3 cup lowfat Greek yogurt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray mini muffin tins with cooking spray. Mix flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice and salt in large bowl. In a separate bowl whisk together pumpkin, eggs, oil, yogurt and milk. Combine wet and dry ingredients until just blended. Spoon batter into muffin tins. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Transfer muffins to rack to cool.  Makes 30 to 35 mini muffins.

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33 Comments on “Best Ever Pumpkin Muffins”

  1. 1 Angie said at 9:23 am on October 6th, 2010:

    These look awesome and I love the addition of yogurt – great idea! Can't wait to make these…..Oh, and Hi Gus, hope you're being a great big brother!

  2. 2 Caroline said at 9:29 am on October 6th, 2010:

    Making these tonight. End of story!

  3. 3 kihoffma said at 9:32 am on October 6th, 2010:

    These look delicious. I can't eat yogurt, milk or eggs. Do you think I should sub the yogurt for applesauce or would a soy yogurt work? I was going to either use Ener-g or flax to replace the egg and soy milk for the cow's milk. Thanks!

  4. 4 tryityoumightlikeit said at 10:16 am on October 6th, 2010:

    I made pumpkin bread not too long ago and baked some of it as muffins and the muffins turned out light and airy and the bread dense. I think it was how long each thing stayed in the oven. I love that photo of the can of pumpkin.

  5. 5 Mara said at 11:26 am on October 6th, 2010:

    I love pumpkin recipes (hint, hint – feel free to put more!). I am going to try this out! thanks!

  6. 6 CookingWithMyKid said at 11:39 am on October 6th, 2010:

    It's your lucky week. We'll be adding new pumpkin recipes every day!

  7. 7 alyssia said at 11:54 am on October 6th, 2010:

    i'm right there with ya – pumpkin is my absolute favorite, so i'm loving this week! i've already made one batch of my recipe this fall – they don't last long!! i remember a pumpkin muffin bake-off with dana in LA back in the DNA days during thanksgiving…i whipped those up at the corp apt! :)

  8. 8 @tamiknits said at 11:26 am on October 7th, 2010:

    Made these this morning for the kiddos I watch, they ALL loved them, really hard to do with my group:) I think they taste like little fluffy cakey pumpkin pies,mmmmmmmmmm!

  9. 9 mafalda said at 2:07 am on October 8th, 2010:

    pumpkin pie spice – what´s in there? i can´t buy some here. is there something i can use instead?!

  10. 10 @amanda310 said at 10:53 am on October 8th, 2010:

    i make my own pumpkin pie spice. here is what i do: 4 ingredients: 4 parts cinnamon, 2 parts ginger, 1 part allspice, 1 part nutmeg. So if you want to make 1 tsp of pumpkin pie spice, use:

    1/2 tsp cinnamon
    1/4 tsp ginger
    1/8 tsp allspice
    1/8 tsp nutmeg

  11. 11 amy said at 1:32 pm on October 8th, 2010:

    what size can of pumpkin? I have a 28 oz can here, but it looks like you used a 15 oz can?

  12. 12 CookingWithMyKid said at 8:07 pm on October 8th, 2010:

    perfect!

  13. 13 CookingWithMyKid said at 8:07 pm on October 8th, 2010:

    we used lowfat plain greek yogurt. (2%)

  14. 14 CookingWithMyKid said at 8:08 pm on October 8th, 2010:

    we used a 15 oz can. let us know how they turn out!

  15. 15 Katie said at 8:27 pm on October 9th, 2010:

    Making these for a hike/picnic with my kids tomorrow!! Yum, Thanks!!

  16. 16 Jenn said at 3:07 pm on October 10th, 2010:

    I read your reply above to kihoffma about the applesauce and I just wanted to clarify something. So, if I was to use applesauce instead of yogurt, I would use 1/2 cup applesauce and no milk at all? Or did you say no milk, because they can't eat milk? I really want to make these and I do have applesauce, but no Greek yogurt, so I just want to make sure I do it right. Do you think they will taste as good with the applesauce? Thanks.

  17. 17 CookingWithMyKid said at 3:19 pm on October 10th, 2010:

    I suggested applesauce bc kihoffma can't have dairy. Hence the no milk. I do think you can make them with applesauce instead of Greek yogurt (as described above) but I do not think they will be quite as light and airy. I've never made these particular muffins with applesauce but I bake so many muffins using applesauce that I feel pretty good recommending it. If you wind up going for it, let us know the result.

  18. 18 Kathleen said at 7:16 pm on October 10th, 2010:

    I can't tell you how excited I am to make these with the kids around Halloween – a special treat that's not candy – perfecto!

  19. 19 Bridgit said at 6:39 am on October 11th, 2010:

    We're having our annual pumpkin carving party this coming Saturday, and we always try to make lots of pumpkin and fall festive goodies. Thanks so much for posting all of these pumpkin inspired recipes! I can't wait to try some of them for our party, especially these muffins.

  20. 20 Pumpkin muffins | Kirbie Cravings said at 12:21 am on October 13th, 2010:

    [...] searching for new pumpkin recipes to try, I came across a pumpkin muffin recipe from Cooking with my Kid, declaring it the “best ever pumpkin muffins.” So of course, I had to check out the [...]

  21. 21 marin said at 12:25 pm on October 15th, 2010:

    sounds delish! if i wanted to make full size muffins instead of minis, what time would you set the oven to and how long would you cook for?

  22. 22 Bridgit said at 8:30 am on October 18th, 2010:

    I baked these this past weekend for our pumpkin carving party, and they were a huge hit! I couldn't believe how easy they were to make, and how moist they are even a few days later. I used Chobani Nonfat Vanilla Yogurt, which worked very well. My husband likes them with a bit of butter spread on top of the muffin. Thanks so much for sharing! I'll never use another pumpkin muffin recipe but this one.

  23. 23 LoveMyLilly said at 9:35 am on October 18th, 2010:

    Hi, we finally made these! the only problem…they didn't last long!! My daughter and I couldn't stop eating them!! We did manage to save another batch for her friends!
    I actually used regular plain yogurt (Stoneyfield organic) instead of greek yogurt! Came out so MOIST!
    Hey, any thing to substitute for the oil? I wonder if I could use applesauce instead of the oil?? Would that just be too soupy along w.the yogurt….?
    thx for your wonderful recipes!!=)
    LovemyLilly

  24. 24 Jennifer said at 9:37 pm on October 18th, 2010:

    Yummy! Just made these tonight for my daughter's school snack and her father and I think they're delicious. I'll tell her the "secret ingredient" was pumpkin, but SHHHHH, don't tell anyone. That always works when I try and get the good stuff into our baked goods.

    By the way, great site. We've got lots of plans to make so many more of your recipes.

  25. 25 CookingWithMyKid said at 12:39 am on October 19th, 2010:

    same temp but would cook for 20 to 25 mins then test with toothpick.

  26. 26 CookingWithMyKid said at 12:40 am on October 19th, 2010:

    i wish the answer was yes to the oil applesauce substitution but for these particular muffins i've found that the oil is essential. dang!

  27. 27 Pumpkin Central. « mommablogsalot.com said at 11:59 am on October 19th, 2010:

    [...] Cooking With My Kid has a delicious looking recipe for pumpkin muffins. I’d love to make these with MM. (canned pumpkin) [...]

  28. 28 Sarah said at 5:50 am on October 20th, 2010:

    I made some changes so thought I'd tell you how they came out. I used 1/3 c applesauce instead of the Greek yogurt because I didn't have any in my fridge, and I also used the pumpkin pie spice recipe noted above. I had to bake them as regular muffins because I don't have mini muffin pans; using a number 20 size scoop to fill the cups, I ended up with 20 muffins. I baked them at at 350 (I was worried 400 would be too high for the bigger muffins and they'd end up raw in the middle and overdone on the outside), but even after nearly 30 minutes in the oven they didn't really seem done on the inside (VERY moist). They taste yummy but just a bit on the doughy side, maybe because the applesauce is more watery than the yogurt? I'll definitely try the yogurt next time! Also, although they looked nice just out of the oven, they fell while cooling so look a bit more like hockey pucks than muffins, but at least they don't taste that way!

    P.S. Love the site. My kid is still too little (2 1/2) to do much more in the kitchen than dump a few things into a mixing bowl before losing interest, but he certainly loves the finished products, and I think just a little bit of "helping" allows him to take ownership and get him excited about cooking.

  29. 29 Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins | Kirbie Cravings said at 1:46 am on October 20th, 2010:

    [...] I like that these muffins are very pumpkin-y, but I am also looking for a recipe that is more muffin batter and that will rise more. Chocolate Chip Pumpkin muffins (recipe base from here) [...]

  30. 30 kihoffma said at 6:27 am on October 21st, 2010:

    We made these last night and they are delicious!!! I did end up baking them longer – about 25 minutes. The substitutions were perfect. Thanks so much!!

  31. 31 MammaDucky said at 10:29 am on October 25th, 2010:

    Made these Thursday night for the twins to take for snack on Friday. I had a plastic container (saved from a recent bakery purchase) that I placed them in because it was convenient and I wouldn't be sad if it didn't make it back to me from the school. Well, when my husband picked the girls up at school the teacher asked which store they came from because "they were wonderful." He said the look on her face was priceless when he told her that I had made them! My kids loved them! The extras were nibbled on throughout weekend. Wonderful!

  32. 32 Valerie said at 7:50 am on October 26th, 2010:

    I gave this recipe to a friend who love pumpkin muffins. She made them this weekend and they were delicious! I couldn't stop eating them!! She thought they could use more spice though, to each her own!

  33. 33 Sara said at 7:47 pm on December 10th, 2010:

    So delicious! Didn't have greek yogurt on hand, but did have Archer Farms Pumpkin pie yogurt. Delish! My 15 month old has been sick with no appetite, and she ate 2 for a snack this morning. Best ever is right!

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