These fluffy cinnamon Pumpkin Muffins are the perfect fall treat. They are full of sweet pumpkin flavor and warm spices, brushed with butter, and topped with cinnamon sugar. They are so delicious and super easy to make. You’re going to love them!
Easy Cinnamon Pumpkin Muffins
Fall (see what I did there?) in love with the flavors of autumn when you bite into these fluffy pumpkin muffins. This classic recipe combines the lovely flavor of pumpkin with the warmth of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves in a gloriously simple batter that bakes up into muffins that are so perfectly moist and tender that you won’t even believe it. Each muffin is brushed with melted butter and dipped in cinnamon sugar to give it the perfect, sweet crust.
These pumpkin muffins are a favorite in our house, right next to pumpkin pancakes. The pumpkin adds tons of moisture and flavor, and the cozy spices make the perfect breakfast for a cool morning. Even our kids look forward to these – all year long.
Why You’ll Love These Pumpkin Muffins
These fluffy cinnamon pumpkin muffins are the perfect Fall breakfast. They really are love at first bite and here’s why.
- So easy. This muffin recipe uses the simplest mixing method. Just combine your wet ingredients, combine your dry ingredients, and put them all together. You’ll have your muffins in the oven in no time.
- Texture. These heartwarming baked goodies are so tender and moist. Sinking your teeth through the buttery cinnamon sugar topping and into the rich, pumpkin-y center is the stuff of dreams.
- Flavor. Prepare yourself for the perfect balance of warm, fall spices, hints of vanilla, and just the right amount of pumpkin flavor.
- Customizable. Make these muffins your own by adding a handful or two of raisins, chocolate chips, or walnuts to these pumpkin muffins.
- Any time of the day. Enjoy these muffins for breakfast, an afternoon pick-me-up, or even for dessert. They are sure to please at any hour.
What You’ll Need
Here’s what you’ll need to make these delightful cinnamon sugar pumpkin muffins. Don’t forget to scroll to the recipe card below for precise measurements.
- All-purpose flour – Make sure to weigh your flour with a food scale for the most accurate results, or to measure it using the spoon and level method, as described in my post How To Properly Measure Flour. You don’t want dry muffins.
- Baking powder and Baking soda – The combination gives the best texture and rise to these muffins.
- Spices: Ground cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves – fall in a muffin!
- Salt – Brings out the natural flavors already present. Without a little salt, your muffins will be bland.
- Unsalted butter – The butter needs to be melted so that it combines smoothly and easily with the other ingredients.
- Sugar – I use a combination of white and light brown sugar for the best moisture and flavor.
- Milk – I used whole milk but you could use 2% as well.
- Canned pumpkin puree – Be sure not to use canned pumpkin pie filling by mistake. They aren’t the same. The pie filling already has sugar, etc added to it.
- Eggs – Be sure to use large eggs.
- Vanilla extract – To add a little depth of flavor.
How To Make Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Muffins
Here’s a quick overview of how to make pumpkin muffins. Be sure to scroll to the recipe card below for more thorough instructions.
- Prep. Preheat oven to 350°F and prepare a muffin pan with liners.
- Combine the dry ingredients. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt.
- Combine the wet ingredients. Whisk together the melted Challenge butter and sugars. Then whisk in the milk followed by the pumpkin puree, eggs, and vanilla extract.
- Put it all together. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and whisk until just combined.
- Bake. Fill the muffin liners 3/4 full and bake for 18-24 minutes.
- Cool. Allow the muffins to cool in the pan.
- Coat the muffins in cinnamon sugar. Whisk together the sugar and ground cinnamon. Then, brush the tops of the muffins with the melted butter and dip the tops into the cinnamon sugar.
Tips for The Best Muffins
- Use canned pumpkin puree. You don’t need to get fancy and use your own homemade pumpkin puree here folks. In fact, I discourage it. Canned puree is so much more predictable in terms of moisture content and sweetness and, as such, makes for a much more trusty baking ingredient.
- Don’t overmix. When mixing the dry ingredients into the batter, mix just until incorporated. No more. Over-mixing can cause the glutens in the flour to overdevelop which can give you overly dense muffins.
- Don’t overfill your muffin liners. The muffins will rise quite a bit as they bake so, unless you want your tins completely overflowing, only fill the muffin liners 3/4 of the way full.
- Make them your own. Fold 1/2-3/4 cup of raisins, nuts, or chocolate chips into the batter before baking, if you’d like.
Proper Storage
- Counter. Once the muffins cool to room temperature, seal them in an airtight container. You can keep them on the countertop for up to 3 days.
- Freezer. If you don’t plan on indulging in these pumpkin-y delights within a few days, allow them to cool completely before sealing them in an airtight, freezer-safe container. Store them in the freezer for up to 3 months. Allow the muffins to thaw at room temperature before diving in.
Watch How To Make Them
Pumpkin Muffins
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Ingredients
Pumpkin Muffins
- 2 cups (260g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter (melted)
- 1 cup (207g) sugar
- ½ cup (112g) packed light brown sugar
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 ½ cups (350g) canned pumpkin puree
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Cinnamon Sugar Coating
- ¼ cup (52g) sugar
- 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 3 tablespoons (42g) unsalted butter (melted)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C) and prepare a muffin pan with liners.
- In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the melted Challenge butter and sugars. Whisk to combine.
- Add the milk and whisk together to combine.
- Add the pumpkin puree, eggs and vanilla extract and whisk together until well combined.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and whisk together just until combined. Do not over mix.
- Fill the muffins liners about ¾ full.
- Bake in preheated oven for 18-24 minutes. The time can vary depending on your oven and how full your muffins are.
- Remove muffins from the oven and allow to cool.
- To coat the muffins with cinnamon and sugar, combine the sugar and ground cinnamon in a small bowl.
- Brush the tops of the muffins with the melted butter, then turn the muffin upside down and dip into the cinnamon sugar to coat.
- Store muffins in an airtight container at room temperature. Muffins are best eaten within 2-3 days.
Notes
- Canned pumpkin puree – Be sure not to use canned pumpkin pie filling by mistake. They aren’t the same. The pie filling already has sugar, etc added to it.
- Storage – Once the muffins cool to room temperature, seal them in an airtight container. You can keep them at room temperature for up to 3 days.
- Freezing – Allow them to cool completely before sealing them in an airtight, freezer-safe container. Store them in the freezer for up to 3 months. Allow the muffins to thaw at room temperature before diving in.
Nutrition
The nutrition facts provided are calculated using a third-party tool and are estimates only. Actual nutritional content may vary based on the ingredients and brands you use, as well as portion sizes. For accurate results, please consult a registered dietitian or nutritionist.
These are fantastic and so easy to make! I used cupcake tins for smaller portions, and worked beautifully.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
Can I use butternut pumpkin in Australia. Would I just mash it and put through a sieve.
I haven’t ever tried it, but I imagine it would be fine. You’d want to cook it and probably puree it in a food processor. You could also try mashing it and pressing it through a sieve.
This recipe looks amazing. I was curious if I were to bake this in two mini muffin pans, do you think I would need to adjust the bake time?
Yes, I’d reduce the baking time for minis. Maybe 8-10 minutes?
Hi Lindsay. I wanted you to know, I tried this recipe as directed with cinnamon sugar on top, then with a streusel topping , and then a cream cheese filling with stressed topping. All turned out amazing. Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful recipes.
Sounds delicious! Glad you enjoyed them!
Another great recipe from you!!!
I love this recipe!! I made these last year and as soon as NC had a cooler day a co-worker asked me when I was going to make these again! (I love Pumpkin pretty much anything but I have this thing about making Pumpkin recipes when it’s still 80 degrees outside). 😀 Only thing I do differently is I let the batter rest for about 30 minutes then bake at 400 for 5 minutes then drop to 350 for 20 minutes and fill every other cup in the muffin pan(I like the big bakery style muffins, I feel like I’m getting more muffin!
This will definitely be a staple receipt for years to come!
I do wonder, could you use this to make a pumpkin bread/loaf? How long would you bake if possible?
I’m so glad you enjoy them! I’ve never tried it as a loaf, so hard to say. I do have an awesome pumpkin bread recipe though, if you’d like to try it.
I will definitely look for it!!
Some recipes call for room temp eggs and say it helps the batter be fluffy and mix better…? Do you think it matters if the eggs are room temp as cold with this recipe? I assumed cold since it didn’t specify
I don’t find room temperature eggs to necessarily help with a fluffier batter, but they can mix into the batter a little easier. I’m probably a bit of a rebel in that I don’t always worry about it unless it truly seems to make a difference in the end result. It depends on the recipe. I don’t think it hurts either way with this recipe (but I know some people would argue with me on that).
These look amazing. Instead of the individual spices, can you use pumpkin pie spice?
The combination of the different spices may be a little different in the spice mix, but you could certainly use it.
Have truly enjoyed many of your wonderful recipies. Looking foward to making this over the weekend. Wanted to know if it would still turn out using a strusel topping on it before baking instead of the cinnamon sugar afterwards .
I haven’t tried it and I can’t remember how thick the batter is. It’s possible the streusel would sink, but I’m not sure. It’d be worth trying.
perfect fall muffins
Awesome recipe! Followed all instructions and no substitutions. Mine turned out looking like the picture and tasting amazing! Love it when a recipe delivers!
I’m so glad to hear that!
Amazing!!! Wow! Yum! Definitely make these if you haven’t yet. I used whole wheat flour and a little less sugar as well as making my own pumpkin purée instead of can since I had these sugar pie pumpkins I didn’t know what to do with but followed this recipe and I’m so glad I did! These muffins were the best thing I could have used the pumpkin for. My family cannot stop eating these things. My husband doesn’t even like sweets and he keeps going back for more.
So glad to hear that!
Can these muffins be frozen?
I love muffins! These look amazing and perfect for this time of the year. As I was reading the recipe I got the idea to try it with butternut squash, because my garden is full of them and it’s almost time to harvest. I’m sure it would work the same as pumpkin only have a bit different taste. i have also heard that they make wonderful pumpkin pie so I’m going to try that this year too. Thank you for the recipe, all of your recipes look so good and your blog is truly a gift to all of us that love to bake.
Thank you and God bless you.
Connie 🙂
Can this recipe be made successfully using gluten free ingredients?
I have not tried this specific recipe with gluten free flour mix but based on the ingredients (amount of baking powder and baking soda) I would think it would work well. I typically use cup for cup brand for bread type recipes. Also I find using buttermilk in place of milk or water in a recipe really ups the leavening in gluten free baking. If I end up trying this, I will comment back how it turns out. They sound amazing!
Lindsay…I am so making these muffins today ! They look so delicious ! Cant’ wait to do the dipping with my grandson. I truly enjoyed your baby update post. Your family is beautiful and such a gift. Wishing you all the best with the birth of your sweet little girl.