This recipe was inspired by one of my biggest pet peeves, never wanting to waste a single ingredient sitting in my pantry! I have a bad habit when I am roaming the grocery aisles, getting overly enthusiastic about a certain ingredient and then buying way too much of it, deluding myself that I will have all the time in the world to whip up all sorts of recipes that I’ve had on my mind. Sadly, with three kids, a hubby and a busy life, I never seem to get around to all that.
I was going through my pantry today and found yet another can of pumpkin puree staring me in the face. Either canned pumpkin is procreating when I’m not looking or, more likely, those mysterious cans are the product of every time I have visited the grocery over the past few months and fantasized about coming home to make pumpkin donuts, pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie and so on. Not surprisingly, I never had the time for all those recipes I really wanted to make but now here I am, with some extra canned pumpkin on my hands. The kids and I decided to make these yummy Pumpkin Muffins, topped with a smear of luscious cream cheese icing. They came out great.
Pumpkin Muffins with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
For the Muffins:
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the Frosting:
- 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
For the Muffins:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Place the first 5 ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine.
- In a separate bowl whisk the remaining ingredients.
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet and whisk until just combined.
- Pour into greased muffins cups 3/4 full.
- Bake for 20 minutes. Allow to cool before frosting.
For the Frosting:
- Combine all ingredients and beat for 1-2 minutes, until fluffy
How many does this yield? That’s important info to have on any recipe….
Sorry about that! We just redesigned our website and some of the info has gone missing. This recipe makes 12 muffins, and I’ve updated the recipe card to reflect that. Thanks for pointing out!
These are AMAZINGLY delicious – total crowd-pleaser! I didn’t have pumpkin pie spice so I used a heaping 1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground ginger and just shy of a 1/2 tsp ground cardamom. Next time I’ll try as the recipe is written, but can’t imagine them getting any better. Thank you, Catherine!
do these freeze well???
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In general, I hate all frosting/icing BUT loved the cream cheese icing for these pumpkin muffins. I loved everything about this!
Oh wow these are yummy!! We love muffins in my house I’m looking for a good peach muffin recipe any suggestions? I would love to see what you have!
I didn’t have any pumpkin puree left so I used pumpkin pie mix and then omitted the pumpkin pie spices and cut the brown sugar by 2/3. I also used Earth Balance “butter” and instead of all purpose flour I used white whole wheat. Results were actually really really amazing- kids said it was actually better than the original recipe which I always made! Super recipe, catherine!
It’ll be a different consistency. More dense.
Will this recipe turn out the same if you use all whole wheat flour? That’s all I use…
Thanks for the recipe. I didn’t have milk so I subtitled with sour cream and a bit of carrot juice ( weird, right?) also my baby is under 1 yr old ao I dont want to use salt and sugar. I omitted the salt and mashed a banana to give a little sweet taste instead of sugar. It turned out greate super moist and soft. Is it freeze well. I used mini muffin so I got like 3 dozens.
Omg these are fantastic and so simple!! I used one cup of whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup AP. I also used about 1 1/2 cups pumpkin purée. The batter seemed a bit thick when I was putting it in the pan but they turned out perfectly. Thanks for another great recipe!!
WOW! Just made these and I could eat them all up! I used butternut squash puree and 1/2 cup honey and 1/4 cup maple syrup instead of the pumpkin and brown sugar. The cream cheese icing would be nice, but they are soo good anyway, why bother! Thanks for another yummy, easy, kid friendly recipe!!!
This cream cheese icing comes out really thick, so it’s great for muffins! I do sometimes make cream cheese frosting with honey instead of sugar, like in this recipe: http://b12.ba4.myftpupload.com/2013/09/06/lightened-zucchini-cake-with-cream-cheese-frosting/
Is there a way to substitute extra cream cheese, and some pumpkin puree in place of the powdered sugar, I try to stay away from to much sugar?
Yes and yes!
Do these come out ok as mini muffins? Do they stay moist?
These are incredible! So moist. I just made a batch for my husband’s birthday, and I know our 16 month old will love having a couple bites 🙂
I accidentally doubled the pumpkin in this recipe and my kids loved them! They weren’t crumbly (which is their main issue with muffins and cupcakes in general) and were like little, moist, mini pound cakes! I didn’t even bother making the frosting after I saw how much they liked them on their own. 🙂 A happy accident.
We love this muffins and so easy to make! Another hit from weelicious, thanks! 🙂
These are so yummy! I took 1/3 of the batter and mixed in 1/3 cup cocoa to turn it dark brown, and marbled the orange and brown batters to make Halloween mini-muffins (in halloween-themed cupcake liners). Instead of the frosting, we “glued” Wilton’s mini-pumpkin cake decorations on with a dot of melted chocolate chips. Such a fun cooking project to do with my 5-yr old. Great recipe!!
If you frost them ahead of time you’ll need to store them in the fridge! You can make the muffins and the frosting the night before, and store just the frosting in the fridge, then frost the next day! You’ll need to let the frosting come to room temperature, though, to be spreadable!
Can I make these the night before i need them and put the icing on or do I need to store the muffins w icing in the fridge overnight
Made this last week after we roasted our first pumpkin, I added chopped pecan’s to it and they didn’t make 2 days….roasting our second pumpkin tomorrow and making it all over again! I will say this recipe is a winner, thank you!
These muffins were a hit amongst adults and children… Delicious!
Hmm, that would probably be okay.
Can I use veg oil instead of the milk?
These were so delicious! My family loved them! My husband said they were too good to be muffins; they had to be called cupcakes. Thank you. These will become on of our favorite fall traditions!
These look great. So glad I found this site.
Oh wow! These were fantastic!
I made a few small changes to the recipe. I used pumpkin pie filling (not as healthy, I know!) because I didn’t have any pumpkin puree on hand. I added a bit of cinnamon and cloves to the flour mixture and I used half all purpose flour/half whole wheat flour. I also baked half in a regular muffin tin, and the other half in a mini muffin tin for the kids lunches and for the baby. They are SO moist, and they taste great even without the icing! I encourage all of you to give this recipe a try! These do not disappoint!
this doesnt print out properly for me had to cut and paste it to notepad in my computer cause it came out with a buch of spaces between the letters and words looked all strange and hard to read
Great recipes! My son’s family is vegan so I’ like to have vegan substitutes where possible.
Thanks,
Mari Jo
My littlest loves pumpkin muffins, thanks! I’ve been toying with this based on what I have on hand and always reduce the sugar per Sandra. I use coconut oil in place of the butter and it works out yummy and this last time I replaced 1/2 cup of the AP flour with almond meal to try and boost the protein a bit. I’m pleased. I am sure that they are ridiculously good if you follow the recipe verbatim (and cream cheese frosting is my favorite), but I make them this way for my baby and they’re still great!
Love this recipe! First time I made them, I didn’t have enough pumpkin purée (of course not noticing until after mixing everyhing else up to that point!), so I did half pumpkin and half sweet potato purée (homemade) – soooo yummy!!
I made these muffins last week and they came out delicious! Thanks for the recipe!!
Do you have any advice for replacing some/all of the white flour with wheat flour? Or will they just be balls of lead?
Love your cute writing, my dear! And these pitecrus are gorgeous. I’d like to request an 8 x 10 of the Red Warty one and another of Bex being squished in between the two pumps. You’ve got such a good eye! No wonder you’re an outstanding photographer!
Made these this am…..delicious! Muffins are fantastic on their own and even better with the frosting. The whole family enjoyed them!
Thanks!
Love! I’m making mini-muffins and just pulled the first batch out of the oven. I ate one warm. Total yum. Filling cups about 2/3 full looks like I’ll get 36 minis out of it. And baking for 11 mins. Thank you!
Thanks for the sugar tip Sandra! My 13 month old eats these often.
These were great! I lowered the sugar to 1/2 cup and nixed the frosting. I keep them in the freezer and defrost as needed for a quick breakfast for my 11 month old! Thanks!
These came out great! Any tips for making a mini-muffin version?
These are a. maz. ing. And they totally saved the day! I have my baby girl’s 1st birthday party tomorrow, and after 3 tries of another recipe for cupcakes, they still weren’t right. So I knew I needed something else (maybe the problem was I didn’t come to weelicious first!). So I did, and you had exactly what I was looking for! These are amazing and I haven’t even made the icing for them yet. Thanks a million for having extra pumpkin in your pantry–you made my night, for sure. 🙂
Made these for my two year old daughter today. She loved them!!! Super yummy! Fantastic recipe! Definitely a keeper!
These look delicious. I have made so many things from your website. I still can’t get over how good the avocado/banana shake is! Thank you and Happy Holidays,
Shannon
So happy you like them!
Made this today and they are delicious!
I have the same question as Erin.
You can use a mix of cinnamon, nutmeg, a pinch of clove and ginger 🙂
I can’t find pumpkin spice where I live … what combination of cinnamon/nutmeg/etc should I use to replace the pumpkin spice?
These look super yummy. I like that it only makes 12 too since I don’t have two regular sized muffin pans. And cream cheese pairs sooo well with pumpkin. I’ve been hoarding pumpkin though because I like it all year round!