Monday, November 1, 2010

Pumpkin Doughnut Mini Muffins

I got a late start on my pumpkin baking this year. In fact, I wasn’t sure if I’d really be baking with pumpkin much at all this fall. I’ve seen tons of delicious-sounding pumpkin recipes on my favorite food blogs, but none of them really struck me as “must-bake-immediately.” That is, until Cara shared this recipe on her site. I don’t think I’ve ever clicked that little star in Google Reader faster.

These cute little mini muffins are amazing. Amazing! As the name would indicate, they have the texture of a cake doughnut. The muffins themselves aren’t super sweet; the sweetness is reserved for a coating of melted butter, cinnamon and sugar. The muffins are rolled in this mixture while they’re still warm, so the butter soaks into the muffins, giving them a rich, moist texture. The cinnamon-sugar coating stays really crunchy, which is the perfect contrast to the soft muffin.


I did make a couple of changes, which I’ve indicated below. These were originally regular-sized muffins, but I love making mini muffins because they’re easier for Andrew to eat -- and in this instance, they’re super cute because they look like little doughnut holes. I also subbed pumpkin pie spice for the nutmeg and allspice called for in the original recipe.

These will be a fall baking staple for me from now on. We all loved them!

Pumpkin Doughnut Mini Muffins
adapted from The Picky Apple, who got the recipe from Everyday Food, November 2010

For the pumpkin batter:

10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon coarse salt
3/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
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

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 24 mini muffin cups with cooking spray. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. 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.

2. Spoon batter into each mini muffin cup and bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean, about 15 minutes. Let muffins cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack.

3. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine granulated sugar and cinnamon. Working with one at a time, remove muffins from pan, roll in butter, then toss to coat in sugar mixture. Let muffins cool completely on a wire rack.


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9 comments:

Kitten with a Whisk said...

These look so cute and yummy.

Leigh said...

oh my heavens! I am drooling on my desk at work, these might just be our dessert for Thursday night.

Desi said...

I have been wantin to try all of the doughnut muffin recipes across the blogosphere but this one seems perfect for fall!

Donna-FFW said...

oh yes, im making these tomorrow!!!!

Avril said...

I have to make these little gems! Thank you so much for bringing my attention to this recipe...super yum!!! :-)

Cara said...

Cassie,

So glad you enjoyed these. We REALLY loved them, and I actually made minis over the weekend too that were the hit of the party we attended. So yummy! I'm already planning on making them again next week for my mom's group. Thanks for the shoutout!

Sherry G said...

I've made so many pumpkin dishes that I could quite possibly be pumpkin-ed out! These do look extremely tasty. I'm a huge sucker for sweet items that could work as a breakfast;)

Keri said...

Oh wow, these will be breakfast this week! Can't wait!!

Monica H said...

Hell to the YES! I'm all over this one. I got a late start to pumpkin baking too, but that's okay because I can just bake with it even longer. It's a good thing I stocked up on pumpkin at Whole Foods last week!