Pumpkin Spice Muffins (Vegan, Gluten Free & Refined Sugar Free)

It's October! And what better way to ring in October than with a little Pumpkin Spice? For years and years, we didn't eat pumpkin in my house. Neither of my parents really liked it, so it was never around our house. I kind of thought the whole pumpkin craze was a little overrated until 2 years ago when I caved into the pumpkin hype and tried pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting - SO good! Clearly all of this pumpkin hype was not out of line because pumpkin treats are now some of my all time favorites!

Yes, I'm a total sucker for pumpkin spice season now! And I've converted my whole family. We are pumpkin spice lovers in my house and these muffins are no exception! I needed a little treat to celebrate the season in my lunches all week and these muffins have been so perfect. They have just the right amount of spice and you'd never know they're gluten free, vegan & refined sugar free.


This recipe is from the Beaming Baker and while I stuck to her recipe pretty closely, I made one notable change. I added pecans! I love muffins with a little extra crunch and I knew pecans would make the most perfect addition to these muffins. I mixed some pecans into the actual muffins, but I sprinkled some on top as a sort of crumble as well. If you are not a pecan person, you can leave them out. But if you're okay with pecans they really do add the perfect little crunch! You can find the original recipe HERE.

Before you get started, prepare 1 vegan egg. I use Bob's Red Mill Egg Replacer, but you could use a flax or chia egg instead. Egg replacers usually need to sit out for 10-15 minutes before you use them, so I recommend prepping them and letting them sit until you need them. This recipe calls for 1 vegan egg, so mix that together and set it aside to congeal until you need it.

In a medium mixing bowl combine 1 cup of pumpkin puree and 1/4 cup of melted coconut oil. You might need to warm the pumpkin up a little so that it doesn't solidify the melted coconut oil.

When the pumpkin puree and coconut oil are combined, stir in 1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons of coconut sugar, 1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons maple syrup, 1 vegan egg and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Once the wet ingredients are combined, set them aside as you combine the dry ingredients.

In a small mixing bowl, combine 2 cups of gluten free oat flour, 1/2 cup of almond meal, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, 1 1/2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice and 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

If you don't have GF oat flour on hand, you can make it by blending up gluten free oats in the food processor. If you are making your own GF oat flour, just make sure the oats are finely ground. You do not want a coarse flour in this case. It should really resemble a flour.

Gradually add the dry ingredients to the medium mixing bowl with the wet ingredients, mixing well between each addition. Mix until the batter is uniform. Once my batter was combined, I mixed in 3/4 cup of chopped pecans. Feel free to leave out the pecans if you prefer.

Coat a muffin tin with coconut oil and fill each muffin to be about 3/4 of the way full. These muffins rose much more than I was expecting, so they really do make a full muffin in the end!

When the batter is distributed into the muffin tin, I sprinkled the top of each muffins with more chopped pecans and a little bit of cane sugar. This made a tasty little crumble on top. Again, you can leave out the pecans if you so choose.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Once preheated, bake the muffins for 18-25 minutes. My muffins took 20 minutes. I recommend checking yours with a toothpick or a knife to make sure they are done.

PUMPKIN SPICE MUFFINS
[Vegan, Gluten Free & Refined Sugar Free]
yield 12 muffins

ingredients
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 coconut oil, melted
1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons coconut sugar
1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons maple syrup
1 vegan egg (Bob's Red Mill egg replacer or a flax or chia egg)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups gluten free oat flour
1/2 cup almond meal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup pecans, chopped

directions
1. Prepare the vegan egg and set it aside to congeal as you work on the rest of the recipe.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the pumpkin puree and melted coconut oil - you might need to warm the pumpkin a little bit so that it doesn't make the melted coconut oil harden.
3. When the pumpkin puree and coconut oil are combined, stir in the coconut sugar, the maple syrup, the vegan egg and the vanilla extract. Once combined, set the wet ingredients aside.
4. In a separate small mixing bowl, combine the gluten free oat flour (if you make it homemade, make sure it's finely ground), almond meal, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice and salt.
5. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix until the batter is uniform. Stir in 3/4 cups of the chopped pecans (save the remaining 1/4 cup to sprinkle on top of the muffins).
6. Coat a muffin tin with coconut oil and fill each muffin to be 3/4 of the way full. Once the batter is evenly distributed, sprinkle the remaining chopped pecans over the muffins. I added a little sprinkle of cane sugar too.
7. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Once preheated, bake the muffins for 18-25 minutes. My muffins were in the oven for 20 minutes. I recommend checking the muffins with a toothpick or a knife to make sure they are fully cooked.

Happy Fall y'all!