Gluten-Free Pumpkin Muffins

This is definitely one of my favorite times of year… especially now that we have fall back (yeah, it’s Colorado, so of course we had a huge snowstorm last week).

Even though it’s definitely messier having my toddler help me in the kitchen, it’s also so fun to watch him concentrate on the tasks I give him. For this muffin recipe, his task was to stir everything (which inevitably led to pumpkin batter going into the flour a little early… but it turned out just fine 🙂 ).

I adapted this recipe from the pumpkin bread recipe on Pamela’s gluten-free flour website– the main difference being that I didn’t want to use half a cup of brown sugar, and honestly, I don’t think this recipe needed it at all. By using just a tablespoon of honey instead, I found it was the right amount of sweetness to balance out the nutmeg, cinnamon and pumpkin spice.

As you eat less refined sugar, you’ll be amazed at how a little bit of honey can go a long way to make something taste sweet to you. And the best part is that my kid absolutely loved these muffins without all that brown sugar. So I had a happy kid who actually stayed happy all afternoon because his blood sugar didn’t crash. 🙂

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Muffins

Ingredients (makes 12 regular muffins or about 24 minis):

• 1¾ cups Pamela’s gluten-free all-purpose baking flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• ½ tsp. nutmeg
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp. honey
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 can of pumpkin
• ¼ cup melted butter (or coconut oil works too)
• ½ cup walnuts, chopped (completely optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a medium bowl, mix together Pamela’s All-Purpose Flour, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg.

In a separate bowl, beat eggs until frothy, add honey and mix. Add vanilla, pumpkin, butter and nuts and mix. Gradually add the flour mixture (or if your toddler happens to add the pumpkin mixture to the flour, that’s okay too). Stir well.

Grease muffin tins with coconut oil or butter and scoop in the mixture– filling about three-quarters of each muffin cup. Smooth over with a spoon to make them even.

Bake for about 20-25 minutes (check after 18 minutes if making mini muffins) and do the fork test to make sure it’s fully baked.

What are some of your favorite healthy fall treats? Share them in the comments!

And if you’re looking for more no-refined-sugar, gluten-free snacks, try the banana muffins or chocolate chip banana bread next!

XO,

-P