Healthy Pumpkin Donut Muffins

Healthy Pumpkin Donut Muffins topped with vanilla bean glaze are sure to become a fall favorite in your home!

These healthy pumpkin donut muffins are so moist and flavorful, you’d never guess that they are full of healthy, wholesome ingredients! Perfect for breakfast or dessert! Speaking of muffins, try Perfect Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins, Biscoff Coffee Cake Muffins, and Banana Oatmeal Muffins for more perfect grab-and-go breakfast goodness!

It wouldn’t be Fall without pumpkin muffins

They’re my favorite! You’ve probably noticed that I already have quite a few recipes for pumpkin muffins in my index. This time however, I thought we’d lighten things up, make them a little bit healthier.

Sure, they’re topped with a maple vanilla bean glaze, but that’s totally optional—the muffins themselves are pretty hearty and wholesome.

I like to call these my “feel good about eating 5 of them in one sitting donut muffins.” They’re that delicious and good for you. I call them “donut muffin” because of their rough and bumpy tops and dense texture. They’re sort of like baked donuts.

After baked, they look like little mountains begging for snow. That’s where the maple vanilla bean glaze comes in. It’s divine. Don’t skip out on it. Not only will they look gorgeous but they’ll taste AMAZING too, I promise.

When you give these Healthy Pumpkin Donut Muffins to your friends and family to try they’ll never know how healthy they are!

Making pumpkin donut muffins

PREP. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray a standard size muffin tin with baking spray (I like coconut oil spray), set aside.

DRY INGREDIENTS. In a medium size mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and salt.

WET INGREDIENTS. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, pumpkin, oil, maple syrup, orange juice and eggs. Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients into the the dry and wet ingredients, stirring together until just combined.

BAKE. Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tin (I like to use my large scoop or a #20 which is approximately 3.5 tablespoons) and place into the oven to bake for 18-20 minutes or until tops spring back when touched. Remove the muffins from the oven and allow them to cool in the pans for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

GLAZE. Meanwhile, to make the glaze, heat the butter and maple syrup in a microwave safe bowl until the butter has melted. Add powdered sugar and vanilla bean paste, adding 1 tbsp. of milk or more until a smooth glaze forms. Dip the tops of the cooled muffins into the glaze, swirl to remove any excess.

Tips + SToring Info

Use pumpkin puree or pure pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling which already has spices added to it.

Making your own Homemade Pumpkin Puree is a great addition to this recipe.

Make your own pumpkin pie spice by combining 1 tsp cinnamon, ½ tsp ginger, ¼  tsp allspice, and ¼  tsp nutmeg for the 2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice called for in this recipe.

Substitute ½ tsp of vanilla extract for the vanilla paste.

Instead of the glaze you could also brush the tops of the muffins with melted butter and then dip them in some cinnamon sugar.

Additions:

• chopped walnuts
• pecans
• hazelnuts
• dried cranberries
• raisins

STORE muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for about 3 days, or in the fridge for up to 5 days.

REHEAT muffins for about 10 seconds in the microwave.

To FREEZE, wait until muffins are cooled and the icing has set, then flash freeze for about 20 minutes on a baking pan. The flash freezing will keep the muffins from sticking to each other if they have been glazed. Then store in an airtight container or ziploc freezer bag for up to 3 months.

for More pumpkin treats, check out:

• Classic Pumpkin Roll
• Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake Bars
• Pumpkin Bread Pudding
• Nutella Stuffed Pumpkin Donut Holes
• Pumpkin Praline Skillet Cake

Recipe source: adapted from Pinch of Yum

I love Zulka’s brown pure cane sugar– it’s less processed and more flavorful