There’s nothing quite like those crisp autumn mornings surrounded by colorful, changing leaves, holding a hot homemade latte, all paired with moist, light, delicious pumpkin spice muffins. It’s that time of year when pumpkin recipes are top of the mind for breakfast, dinner, and dessert.

Pumpkin spice muffin with pecan brown sugar crumble.

This post was originally published in September 2017 in partnership with Bob’s Red Mill, as a member of CLEVER.

These muffins are a fall staple for cozy mornings because they’re easy to make in just 30 minutes. Even better? That pecan crumble on top. It takes a basic pecan topping, like on banana carrot muffins, and brings it up several notches with a buttery brown sugar streusel.

Ingredients You’ll Need

  • All-Purpose Flour: I recommend measuring it correctly or weighing out the flour to be sure you don’t have too much.
  • Baking Soda, Baking Powder, and Salt: the usual suspects for wonderfully textured muffins!
  • Pumpkin Pie Spice: of course, we’re using a lot of pumpkin pie spice for all the pumpkin spice flavor in these muffins!
  • Cinnamon: and extra cinnamon for warmth.
  • Brown Sugar and Granulated Sugar: for a little sweetness!
  • Butter: melted, so no time to wait for softened butter.
  • Eggs: best if these are room temperature though…so that the coldness doesn’t harden the butter. But a quick trick for this is to put the whole eggs in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes before cracking.
  • Apple Sauce: for moisture, without oil.
  • Pumpkin Puree: use 100% pumpkin!
  • Pecans: to make the crumble, along with brown sugar for a deep, rich caramel flavor.

How to Make Pumpkin Spice Muffins

First things first: you can make the crumble before or after the muffin batter, but I like making it first so that it has time to clump up before it goes on top of the muffins.

I also recommend melting the butter in the microwave at this point so that it has time to cool before whisking together the wet ingredients. If you combine hot butter with the eggs…you’ll end up with scrambled eggs.

Two images: bag of flour, mixing bowl of dry ingredients, and eggs.

Then, stir the dry ingredients so they’re fully incorporated before adding in the wet ingredients. For this recipe, including the sugars, too.

Then, whisk together the rest of the wet ingredients until combined. All that’s left to do is just incorporate the wet ingredients into the dry. It’s important to not overmix the batter so the muffins stay moist and light. Overmixing results in tough muffins.

Fill the muffin tins approximately 3/4ths of the way full. Depending on how full the tins are will determine exactly how many muffins you’ll get out of the batter.

Scoop the pecan crumble on top of the batter and gently pat it down. Patting it down will help it adhere once the muffins bake up into perfection.

Baked muffins with crumble in muffin tin.

Storage & Freezing

Once the muffins are cooled, if you have any left, store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

You can also freeze the muffins and place them in a freezer-safe bag. Thaw in the microwave or at room temperature on the countertop to enjoy. Freezing is a great option for on-the-go breakfasts on busy mornings.

Pumpkin spice muffin with bite out.

More Pumpkin Recipes

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Pumpkin Spice Muffins with Pecan Crumble | Fork in the Kitchen
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Get the Recipe Pumpkin Spice Muffins with Pecan Crumble

Pumpkin Spice Muffins with Pecan Crumble – light, moist muffins bursting with fall flavors, topped with a crunchy, buttery pecan topping. Easy to make in just 30 minutes for a cozy, comforting breakfast!

Ingredients

Pecan Crumble

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Instructions
 

  • Pecan Crumble: In a small bowl, use a fork to combine the flour, brown sugar, and melted butter. Stir in chopped pecans.
  • Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a regular-size muffin tin. You'll need approximately 14 muffins, depending on how full you fill the muffin tins. Melt butter for the muffins and set aside to cool.
  • In a large mixing bowl, stir together dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, brown sugar, and white sugar. Set aside.
  • In another medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, vanilla, apple sauce, and pumpkin puree, and melted butter. Stir the wet ingredients into dry ingredients until just combined; don't want to overmix the batter.
  • Fill muffin tins about ¾ full (I use a large scoop). Top each muffin with approximately ½ Tablespoon of crumble and gently pat down.
  • Bake muffins for 16-20 minutes, until tops bounce back when touched slightly. Remove from pan and transfer to a cooling rack. Let cool slightly and enjoy! Store leftover muffins in an airtight container, or freeze.
Calories: 203kcal, Carbohydrates: 29g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 9g, Saturated Fat: 5g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.5g, Monounsaturated Fat: 2g, Trans Fat: 0.3g, Cholesterol: 44mg, Sodium: 216mg, Potassium: 86mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 16g, Vitamin A: 3000IU, Vitamin C: 1mg, Calcium: 43mg, Iron: 1mg
Did you make this recipe?Please leave a star rating and review in the form below. I appreciate your feedback, and it helps others, too!