Let me start out by saying that I literally just did a happy dance across my kitchen floor because of how dang delicious these muffins are.
If you’re not a fan of sporadically jumping into a dance number with your oven mitts on, perhaps you should sit this one out.
Muffins and I go way back. As a kid, I always gravitated towards those sky-high bakery muffins studded with chocolate chips, topped with streusel, or packed with fruit. I was never really a cookie girl; a tiny, flat cookie could never quite compare to a monstrous muffin. I just loved sinking my teeth into a moist (sorry) and fluffy baked treat.
When I got older and was lucky enough to work in a coffee shop, break-time meant that it was time for only one thing: a big ol’ blueberry muffin. I adored my time with that soft, juicy muffin that I would promptly inhale within a whole 2 minutes.
But then, I noticed that my clothes weren’t fitting right. I was feeling super run-down all the time. I would feel great for about 20 minutes, only to absolutely crash and mope around for the rest of my shift.
It couldn’t be because of that giant, sugar-laden, calorie-bomb I just devoured, could it?!
Oh, sweet sweet teenager Alexa. It definitely was that muffin.
When I turned my diet towards a whole foods-fueled direction, my muffin eating habits slowly went away. But my muffin craving habits have never, and will never, go away.
This is why I took it upon myself to craft a festive muffin that was made from whole foods, wouldn’t make me feel sluggish, and would actually be healthy enough to eat for breakfast.
These Gluten Free Vegan Pumpkin Muffins are those muffins. They’re ridiculously moist, perfectly spiced, and kissed with just the right amount of sweetness! Oh, and they’re swirled with cinnamon-[coconut] sugar! This is literally my perfect muffin!!
Not to toot my own horn, but *toot toot*. I think I’ve hit the gluten free muffin flour blend goldmine. It’s pretty much the same blend that I used in my Banana Nut Muffin recipe: almond flour, oat flour, and coconut flour. The correct ratio of these flours gives you that perfectly moist and chewy muffin consistency. After Mark bit into one, he seriously had no idea that these pumpkin muffins were gluten free, let alone vegan. This almond-oat-coconut flour mixture is what gluten free dreams are made of.
There’s only 1/4 cup of refined sugar-free sweeteners goin’ on in these Gluten Free Vegan Pumpkin Muffins. Maple syrup sweetens up the batter, while the coconut sugar, mixed with a touch of cinnamon, is swirled throughout and on top of the muffins. I think this may just be the first time I’m using coconut sugar on the blog, but it’s quickly becoming one of my favorite baking go-tos. Oh, and you’ll definitely need a bag to whip up one very special recipe in my eCookbook :)
Last, but certainly not least, the touch of fall flava. You’ll need pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and pure vanilla extract in order give these muffins their optimum flavor. It’s like biting into a muffin-textured pumpkin pie. Seriously, these things are perfect in every sense of the word.
Would you believe me if I told you that these babies are even more moist on day 2? And even more so on day 3?! And…I’m not sure after that because they didn’t last that long. :)
If you’re pumpkin-obsessed, or if you’re a gluten free-er who’s seriously jonesing for some muffin lovin’, you’ve come to the right place. Because I am both, I’m clearly head-over-heels over these muffins, and I can guarantee I’ll be making them a few more times before this pumpkin season comes to a close. Let’s get our [wholesome] muffins on.
PrintGluten Free Vegan Pumpkin Muffins
- Yield: 5 muffins
Ingredients
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1/4 cup oat flour
- 2 Tbsp. coconut flour
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, divided
- 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
- pinch salt
- 2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
- ~1/2 cup almond milk (see recipe)
- 2 Tbsp. coconut oil, melted
- 1 Tbsp. nut butter (I used cashew)
- 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
- splash pure vanilla extract
- 3 Tbsp. pure maple syrup
- 1 Tbsp. coconut sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Spray/grease 5 muffin tin cups and set aside.
- Add almond flour, oat flour, coconut flour, baking powder, 1 tsp. cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt to a large bowl and whisk to combine. Be sure to whisk out any large clumps of flour.
- Add apple cider vinegar to a ½ cup measure. Fill the rest of the measure up with milk. Allow to sit for 5-10 minutes, or until it starts to curdle. This is your homemade buttermilk.
- To your melted coconut oil, add nut butter, pumpkin puree, vanilla, and maple syrup and mix well to combine. Add “buttermilk,” and mix well to combine.
- Add liquids to your dry ingredients and mix well until combined. The batter will be thick and fluffy.
- In a small bowl, combine coconut sugar and remaining 1/2 tsp. cinnamon. Mix to combine.
- Fill 5 muffin cups half way with batter. Sprinkle about 1/4 tsp. coconut sugar-cinnamon mixture on top, and then fill to the top of the muffin tin with the remaining batter. Top with the remaining coconut sugar-cinnamon mixture.
- Bake for 5 minutes at 425 degrees F. WITHOUT OPENING THE OVEN DOOR, lower the oven temperature to 375 degrees F, and bake for an additional 13 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. This method gives these muffins optimum rising power.
- Remove from oven and allow to sit in the muffin tin for 10 minutes. Remove muffins and place on a cooling rack to continue cooling.
- Enjoy slathered with nut butter or drizzled with maple syrup!
This recipe was adapted from my seriously addictive Gluten Free Vegan Banana Nut Muffins!
OMG these look fantastic!!! I actually have some leftover pumpkin puree from all my pumpkin adventures in the fridge…so I basically have to make these, right? All I need is almond flour! Which, surprisingly, I’ve never bought or baked with. I’ll have to make an exception :)
Thank you so much, Emilie! You will LOVE almond flour – definitely pick up a bag!
I was toootally a fellow jumbo muffin lover in high school, too! They’re seriously so tasty, but definitely give a carb crash like no other. Love these, Alexa!
Thanks so much, Lucia!! Jumbo muffins = <3 but these are definitely a contender!
I’m so with you on the jumbo muffins! I was ALL about those Mega Blueberry Muffins from Wegmans. These look absolutely perfect— though I’ve never worked with almond flour. Adding that to my next grocery list!
Thanks so much, Liz! You must try almond flour! It’s such a fun flour to work with, and I swear to you, you won’t even be able to tell the difference between these and gluten-full muffins!
SAME GIRL, I use to eat those blueberry muffins from dunkin donuts ALL THE TIME. Glad we finally saw the light hehe :P Coming over after finding you through the FB group post on listing the three words :) Love your blog!
xo,
Sarah Grace
I’m so glad you found my blog, Sarah Grace!! :) Thanks so much for your kind words – heading to your blog now! :)
Oh yum! I also totally love muffins :) and these ones look amazing! I love that they have a cinnamon-y swirl, great idea.
Thanks, Mel! That cinnamon-y swirl is my favorite part! :D
Omg! I tried and fall in love with this recipe. The muffins turn out to be moist and fluffy, I need to resist myself in order not to finish the whole batch. Thank you so much for sharing your recipe❤️
This made me so happy, Michelle! I’m so glad you liked this recipe :) I’m seriously obsessed with the almond/oat/coconut flour blend for muffins!