When we first moved into our home, a neighbor delivered fresh, hot, pumpkin doughnut muffins as a "welcome to the neighborhood" gift. It. Was. Heavenly.
And you can believe I've never forgotten them.
Option 2:
Fast forward two years and here are two ways of making delicious, pumpkin doughnut muffins:
Option 1:
I am in the process of getting ready to move, so I have been doing my best to use up any and all food we have left in our house. I was asked to bring mini muffins to an event recently and I didn't want to go to the store for any ingredients. Then I remembered the pumpkin pie filling in the pantry I had been trying to use up. And THEN I remembered the delicious pumpkin doughnut muffins from the neighbor and thought I may be able to recreate them so I could use the pumpkin pie filling. I kept trying to find recipes that used the pie filling in a muffin recipe, but every recipe I came across used pumpkin puree, not pie filling. I then stumbled upon a recipe (somewhere I can't find now) where they used only two ingredients to make their muffins-yellow cake mix and pumpkin pie filling. Say what?! No eggs, oil, or anything else was needed. Sa-weet!!! I happened to have both in my pantry :) I mixed the two ingredients together, baked them at 350 degrees for around 20 minutes or so (until a toothpick comes out clean) and they turned out great. They are NOT like a normal muffin and you can definitely tell it has cake mix in it, but I love me some good cake mix taste. :) I then used a cinnamon sugar topping on the muffins (recipe below). It was a great option to making super easy muffins. (note: The pie filling was the very large can, not the smaller can.)
Option 2:Here is the original recipe that my neighbor brought over. It is a more traditional pumpkin muffin. She made it using the giant muffin pans, but any size muffin pan would also work.
Pumpkin Doughnut Muffins
Makes 12
For the Batter:
•10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
•3 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pan
•2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
•1/4 teaspoon baking soda
•1 teaspoon coarse salt
•1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
•1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
•1/3 cup buttermilk
•1 1/4 cups pure pumpkin puree
•3/4 cup light-brown sugar
•2 large eggs
For the Sugar Coating:
•3/4 cup granulated sugar
•2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
•1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour 12 standard muffin cups. Make batter. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and allspice. In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk and pumpkin puree. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, scraping down bowl as needed. With mixer on low, add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with two additions pumpkin mixture and beat to combine.
Spoon 1/3 cup batter into each muffin cup and bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean, 30 minutes. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine granulated sugar and cinnamon. Let muffins cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack. Working with one at a time, remove muffins from pan, brush all over with butter, then toss to coat in sugar mixture. Let muffins cool completely on a wire rack.
Pumpkin Doughnut Muffins
Makes 12
For the Batter:
•10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
•3 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pan
•2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
•1/4 teaspoon baking soda
•1 teaspoon coarse salt
•1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
•1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
•1/3 cup buttermilk
•1 1/4 cups pure pumpkin puree
•3/4 cup light-brown sugar
•2 large eggs
For the Sugar Coating:
•3/4 cup granulated sugar
•2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
•1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour 12 standard muffin cups. Make batter. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and allspice. In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk and pumpkin puree. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, scraping down bowl as needed. With mixer on low, add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with two additions pumpkin mixture and beat to combine.
Spoon 1/3 cup batter into each muffin cup and bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean, 30 minutes. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine granulated sugar and cinnamon. Let muffins cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack. Working with one at a time, remove muffins from pan, brush all over with butter, then toss to coat in sugar mixture. Let muffins cool completely on a wire rack.
