It seems naïve to talk about building a business on a single muffin, but in case of this pumpkin muffin, it's the truth. Instead of the heavy, dark-brown pumpkin muffins people expected, we offered them a light-textured, attractive, pastel orange mini-cake, sprinkled with sunflower seeds. Word about my baking spread, thanks to the success of those muffins. Thank you, Peggy Cullen, for sharing these beauties.
Bakers Note: If you use generous scoops of batter, the yield will be 12 muffins. For smaller muffins, use 7 muffin cups in each of 2 muffin pans. Distribute the batter in a random pattern (not in rows) in each pan so the muffins bake evenly. Butter only the cups that you are going to use, or the butter in the empty cups will burn.
Ingredients
Makes 12 to 14 muffins
Step 1
Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 400˚F. Brush the insides of 12 to 14 muffin cups with softened butter, then brush the top of the pan.
Step 2
Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt together into a medium bowl. Beat the butter in the bowl of a heavy-duty stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on high speed until creamy, about I minute. Gradually beat in the sugar and continue beating, scraping the sides of the bowl often with a silicone spatula, until the mixture is very light in color and texture, about 5 minutes. Gradually beat in the eggs. Reduce the mixture speed to low. Beat in the pumpkin; the mixture may look curdled. In thirds, beat in the flour mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl often, and mix until smooth. Add the raisins. Increase the speed to high and beat until the batter has a slight sheen, about 15 seconds, no longer.
Step 3
Using a 2 1/2 inch-diameter ice-cream scoop, portion the batter, rounded side up, into the prepared cups. Sprinkle the tops with the sunflower seeds.
Step 4
Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 375°F and continue baking until the tops of the muffins are golden brown and a wire cake tester inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 15 minutes more.
Step 5
Cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove the muffins from the pan and cool completely.
Leave a Review
Reviews (21)
Back to TopI'm and experienced baker and saw that I could make this muffin gluten free and also mix in my food processor with no damage to the end result. I creamed the butter cubes and sugar by pulsing the food processor, added the eggs, 2/3 cup yogurt, 2/3 cup half & half, the spices, 2 tsps. vanilla and the pumpkin. When the ingredients were well mixed, I added the dry ingredients called for in the recipe (my addition at this point was 1/2 tsp baking soda). I then added the raisins and some candied ginger. Essentially, I'm realizing, I re-wrote the recipe to make it work for my needs. My changes and additions resulted in producing 23 delicious, delicate muffins. They had the perfect level of spice, I think the yogurt served two purposes- it kicked up the spice and aided in producing a tender crumb.
Kathy H
Edmonds WA
10/16/2023
I read the reviews and still decided to make. One always thinks they can follow directions better than most and make the perfect muffin. So I tried it! I followed the recipe to the T (aside from adding extra spices) but the mixing process and packing the muffins into as few muffins as possible. They are a great texture, they held up and look really nice. BUT they are totally flavorless. I was super bummed. Even with fresh grated nutmeg they just kind of fell flat. You could up the spices and make a spice muffin, but the pumpkin really doesn’t come through. I really like the texture and the mixing process works perfectly for that. So follow those directions if you decide to make.
imaginethat90
3/9/2019
So unimpressed. Very boring with little pumpkin flavor.
mtnmeye
1/8/2019
I followed the recipe exactly and these were, hands down, the lightest, most moist and delicious muffins I have ever made, and I have made some good muffins. I have the cookbook this recipe is from, and yes, it calls for 3 and 2/3 cups of PASTRY flour. My only guess for all these people who seem to have not gotten the same results is the problem with measuring flour by volume instead of weight - if you scoop and swipe, you're likely to get way more flour than the recipe actually calls for. I usually check for the weight - according to King Arthur's website, unbleached pastry flour is 106 grams per cup, so for the 3 and 2/3, you'd want about 388 grams of pastry flour. My other guess is that you substituted all purpose flour - which has a lot higher protein content. Pastry flour creates a much lighter pastry, so if you substitute you will get much different results. For those who knowingly substituted flour types (especially gluten-free!!) - of course you got different results! Baking is science so you'll have to experiment a lot more if you want to make significant changes and get the right result.
Anonymous
NY, NY
10/30/2018
These were heavy, dense, and remained craggy on the top. Reading through the recipe it seemed like too much flour, and I think that was the real problem. Also, it doesn't include nearly enough spice for that amount of flour--I doubled the cinnamon and ginger and still barely detected either.
Anonymous
Chicago IL
9/30/2016
The muffins came out so dry. I would use half as much flour. I could tell when I put the batter into the muffin tin. This made 18 dry, heavy muffins. I am so disappointed. My son and I baked these for a fundraiser. We have to start over again with a new recipe. I do NOT recommend this one.
fkirby
Santa Fe, NM
11/4/2015
I followed the recipe exactly and it made 14 large impressive muffins, moist and airy. Do not leave out the final beating step (15 seconds until the batter has a slight sheen). It may feel counter-intuitive to beat this long after all ingredients are in, but it results in a velvety and light batter. Unlike other recipes (which often direct one to fill the muffin tins 2/3 full), for this recipe and picking up on others' comments, I filled the muffin tins right to the top and they rose to a classic dome shape without overflowing the tins -- they looked very professional. I will make these again but will increase spices to 1½ tsp cinnamon, ½ tsp ginger, ½ tsp nutmeg and ½ tsp salt and will try substituting brown sugar for ½ cup of the white sugar.
nkbrooks
Ottawa, ON
10/25/2015
I followed recipe exactly and it made 14 large muffins, moist and airy. Do not leave out the final beating step (15 seconds until the batter has a slight sheen). It may feel counter-intuitive to beat this long after all ingredients are in, but it results in a velvety and light batter. Unlike other recipes (which often direct one to fill the muffin tins 2/3 full), for this recipe and picking up on others' comments, I filled the muffin tins right to the top and they rose to a classic dome shape without overflowing the tins -- they looked very professional. I will make these again but will increase spices to 1½ tsp cinnamon, ½ tsp ginger, ½ tsp nutmeg and ½ tsp salt and will try substituting brown sugar for ½ cup of the white sugar.
nkbrooks
Ottawa, ON
10/25/2015
Not for me. I converted them to gluten free flour. The texture was more like actual bread with only a weak spice/pumpkin flavor. Seemed like WAY TOO MUCH flour and way too much mixing. I will not make these again.
denisetherealtor
Carterville, MO
6/28/2015
I was disappointed with how these turned out - not as moist or as flavourful as expected. But the little ones enjoyed them!
meghanpholmes
Chanhassen MN
3/22/2015
these were great! i was looking for a way to use the last can of pumpkin left over from thanksgiving and this was perfect. I used 2 1/3 cups four instead of the 3 1/3c and they turned out beautifully. I skipped the raisins, used a mix of pastry and all purpose flour (using up the last of the pastry flour), used cupcake liners and pumpkin seeds instead of sun flour. beautiful, light and nicely spiced. as others have mentioned, they don't rise a ton, so fill your muffin tin nearly to the top. I will be making these again when i'm craving those wonderful fall spices that always seem to warm the coldest winter day. enjoy!
zutalors85
nyc-sf
2/9/2014
I used whole wheat pastry flour, not sure if that made a huge difference or not but they did rise up well. results were a cake/bread-like muffin a bit dense but moist however the flavor was not that great considering they had 1 full cup of sugar in the recipe. I also omitted the subflowe seeds and raisins, instead topped with large sugar sprinkles. this recipe yield 12 muffins and enough for a mini loaf pan.
cma121680
Westchester, NY
11/18/2013
Really liked these muffins! I used 3 cups flour because of a previous review
Merrill
Franktown, CO
10/30/2013
I made these exactly according to the directions, with the following two exceptions:<p> - I used all-purpose flour rather than pastry flour.<p> - I used cupcake liners rather than buttering the pans. (I did still butter the pan top.)<p> The muffins are moist and delicious and yes, beautiful! My entire family loves them.<p> I did read the other reviews in advance, and therefore filled the muffin pans MUCH fuller than I ever would have with any other recipe. As another reviewer noted, the muffins really do not rise much, so they were perfectly shaped coming out of the oven and not overflowing or running into each other at all.<p> I made just 12 and had the smallest bit of batter left - enough to make perhaps one more muffin. I think if I had not used the papers I could have used all of the batter for 12.
jennympls
minneapolis, mn
3/12/2013
Used 3 cups of flour and only 1 cup of sugar to make them more of a breakfast muffin. They took a little longer to bake for me, about 15 minutes. Very delicious!
RabiaS
Philadelphia, PA
2/13/2013
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