Fall just screams for all things pumpkin, and when the cold weather starts, the pumpkin spice comes out to play – YUM! We have just the pumpkin treat to sate your pumpkin needs, our Healthy Vegan Pumpkin Muffins are sure to please. Perfectly tender with just the right amount of pumpkin and cinnamony goodness. Full of healthy goodness, you can even have these treats for a guiltless breakfast, and you can be assured that every bite will be packed with deliciousness. Whole Food Plant Based, vegan, plant based, oil free, refined sugar free, gluten free, and no highly processed ingredients.

Ameera here!

Mom and I have been working hard to perfect these healthy pumpkin muffins for about a month now.  We actually started with making this recipe as a pumpkin loaf, but while absolutely delicious, it was just a hair’s breadth (Mom’s most commonly used term – LOL) too moist.  In other words, when sliced it had this ever-so-slight-bit of gumminess to it. If you are gluten free, then you know what I am talking about.

WFPB – Naturally Gluten Free

Being gluten free has its challenges when it comes to baking for sure.  However, on another note, I was happy to read that being ‘gluten free’ is often considered a natural occurrence in Dr. Campbell’s book Whole, as being gluten free means that we tend to use a lot of other flours (almond flour, brown rice flour, oat flour, etc.) that are unrefined and less processed than white flour and wheat flour, and these flours are better for you.

In other words, the Whole Food Plant Based lifestyle naturally lends itself to being gluten free in many cases. Does that mean anyone who doesn’t have Celiac Disease should be gluten free 100% of the time?  No, not at all; it just means that a lot of WFPB recipes are naturally gluten free and can be enjoyed by everyone on the Whole Food Plant Based lifestyle. Win, win, win!

The Curse of Gluten Free Baking

Back to the subject at hand, which is creating baked goods that taste as good (if not better), but also have great texture when you are gluten free baking.  It is much more challenging, and believe it or not, it IS also an art form.

An “artform” you say? Really?  Well, yes, indeed.  Just ask anyone with Celiac Disease their thoughts on unprocessed, vegan, oil-free, refined sugar free, WFPB, gluten free baked goods, and I am sure they will fill your ear. It is truly a delicate balance, and much more difficult to achieve excellent texture that isn’t gummy.

Swap out regular flour

Anyone who tells you that you can just swap out regular flour for gluten free flour for a WFPB baked goods recipe probably hasn’t actually tried to do that.  Why?  Because trust me, I’ve tried, and it rarely works out (except when making a roux) because we don’t use oil or eggs to bind the batter; and gluten free flour tends to act differently than regular flour, and sometimes you get this gummy texture, which is not pleasant.

Experimenting

Mom and I experimented a lot with this recipe and we believe we have created a beautiful pumpkin muffin that has great flavor, awesome texture, and is both healthy and delicious. I’ll let Mom tell you more about these beauties.

This post contains affiliate links, and we may receive a very small commission if you purchase through those links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Monkey and Me Kitchen Adventures! For more information, see our disclosures here.

Hi!  Robin here!

I love muffins. I probably love them too much. LOL But what I love about these pumpkin muffins is not only do they have great texture and flavor, they are very lightly sweet. There is just a hint of sweetness to them.  I really enjoyed the chopped walnuts on top for that added crunchiness. It just took these puppies to the next level.  Soooo gosh-darn good!

If they are not sweet enough for you, then lightly sprinkle them with some Whole Food Plant Based Powdered Sugar (see recipe notes) or the Maple Glaze.  Both are really nice additions that take these beauties to the next level.

I literally had to stop myself from eating more than one.  I wanted to scarf them up.  They also freeze really well too if you are looking for a quick breakfast muffin for those crazy days and you need something fast – this is perfect!

Products Used:

• Food processor
• High Speed Blender if making the maple glaze or WFPB powdered sugar (optional)
• Muffin baking pan
• Paper muffin liners
• Wire cooling rack (optional)

Healthy Vegan Pumpkin Muffins

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• Author: Monkey and Me Kitchen Adventures
• Prep Time: 12 minutes
• Cook Time: 30 minutes
• Total Time: 42 minutes
• Yield: 12 Muffins 1x
• Category: Dessert
• Cuisine: American

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Description

Fall just screams for all things pumpkin, and when the cold weather starts, the pumpkin spice comes out to play – YUM! We have just the pumpkin treat to sate your pumpkin needs, our Healthy Vegan Pumpkin Muffins are sure to please. Perfectly tender with just the right amount of pumpkin and cinnamony goodness. Full of healthy goodness, you can even have these treats for a guiltless breakfast, and you can be assured that every bite will be packed with deliciousness. Whole Food Plant Based, vegan, plant based, oil free, refined sugar free, gluten free, and no highly processed ingredients.

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

Dry Ingredients:

• 1 cup almond flour, lightly packed
• ½ cup rolled oats, coarsely chopped
• ½ cup brown rice flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice *
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 Tablespoon flax meal
• 1 Tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
• ¾ cup dried maple sugar *
• ½ teaspoon sea salt (+/-) *

Wet Ingredients:

• 1 Tablespoon vanilla
• 1/3 cup unsweetened almond butter, softened *
• 1 cup canned pumpkin (not the pumpkin pie filling)
• ¾ cup unsweetened plain plant milk

Toppings

• 3/4  cup chopped walnuts – optional
• Sprinkle of WFPB powdered sugar (optional) 

Optional Maple Glaze Ingredients:

• ½ cup cashews
• 3 Tablespoons unsweetened plain plant milk
• 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3 Tablespoons organic maple syrup
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla

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Instructions

Muffin Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Place oven rack in the center position.
2. Line a muffin pan with 12 paper muffin liners, set aside.
3. Place the oats in a food processor and process just to break up the oats, about 20 seconds. You want coarsely chopped oats, not create oat flour.  Then add to a large mixing bowl.  Add all the other dry ingredients (almond flour, rice flour, sea salt, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, cocoa powder, baking powder, dried maple sugar, flax meal) to the mixing bowl with the oats, whisk to combine. (see notes on pumpkin pie spice)
4. Add all the wet remaining ingredients (vanilla, pumpkin, almond butter, and plant milk to the dry ingredients, stir well by hand to combine. The mixture should be thick like a brownie batter.
5. Fill the muffin cup liners almost to the top. Optional: Place chopped walnuts on top and slightly press them onto the batter to secure. Place in the oven for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the muffins comes out clean.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes, then remove the muffins from the muffin pan. Place on a wire rack until completely cooled.
6. Optional: Sprinkle with WFPB powdered sugar – see notes
7. Optional: Drizzle with Maple glaze – see recipe instructions

Maple Glaze Instructions

1. Quick soak the cashews by placing the cashews in a bowl, then add boiling water just to cover them. Soak for 20 minutes, then discard the water.
2. Place the soaked cashews and all the remaining ingredients in a high-speed blender. Blend on high for one minute until very smooth and creamy.
3. Taste test the glaze, adjust the flavors as needed.
4. Adjust the consistency by adding more plant milk if too thick.
5. Drizzle over completely cooled muffins.
6. Refrigerate muffins if the maple glaze is used and you have leftovers. OR refrigerate the Maple Glaze and add to individual muffins when served.

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Notes

*Pumpkin Pie Spice:  Some pumpkin pie spices are stronger than others.  For example, some brands have a very strong, sharp flavors whereas Penzeys has a mild flavor. We think individual personal preference really depends upon what you are most familiar with when it comes to pumpkin pie spice.

If you are using Penzeys, you may wish to increase the pumpkin pie spice to 2 ½ teaspoons.  If you are using another brand, you may wish to stick to the 2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice.  You can actually taste the batter to get a sense of the flavor profile for the end baked product, and then adjust as needed.

*Maple Sugar/Sweeteners:  We get tons of questions about sweetener substitutions. We totally get it. Some folks want to use all Medjool dates, while others want to use all maple syrup. We’ve tried these muffins using all Medjool dates, they turned out gummy.  We also tried using all maple syrup, they just didn’t hold up.  Honestly, the best sweetener for this recipe is maple sugar.  Additionally, using date sugar is not recommended either as it just doesn’t have the same flavor and texture needed for this recipe. ***We also get a lot of questions about using coconut sugar, if your diet permits, you can substitute coconut sugar for the maple sugar.  However, we have not tested with coconut sugar; many of our readers have let us know that coconut sugar works well as a substitute for maple sugar.

*Almond Butter:  Most almond butter is generally already very soft; however, some brands do require refrigeration after opening where it then becomes rigid when cold.  If you are using an almond butter that has been refrigerated, then heat up the amount needed in the microwave for about 25 seconds or remove the required amount from the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature before stirring in. It is difficult to distribute refrigerated almond butter evenly throughout the batter as it tends to lump up. You want it softened, not melted.

*Flour Substitutions:  This recipe is gluten free and was specifically designed to use a combination of almond flour, brown rice flour, and oats.  We do not have any substitutions to offer.

*“WFPB Powdered Sugar” – Optional:  Place 1 Tablespoon of dried maple sugar and 1 Tablespoon of cornstarch into a high-speed blender (ex. Ninja) and blend on high for one minute to create a very fine powder. Sprinkle the maple “powdered sugar” over top of completely cooled muffins through a fine mesh sieve.

*Sea Salt: Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.

*Serving:  Makes 12 muffins.

*Storage: Use within 4 days.  Freezes well.

This post contains affiliate links, and we may receive a very small commission if you purchase through those links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Monkey and Me Kitchen Adventures! For more information, see our disclosures here.