Mini Pumpkin Donut Muffins

These delightful mini pumpkin donut muffins are dipped in butter and rolled in cinnamon and sugar. They are soft, fluffy and so yummy!

Completely irresistible, these amazing little muffins are like a pumpkin-flavored donut hole smothered in cinnamon and sugar. I dare you to eat just one!

Pumpkin Muffin Batter

This one-bowl muffin batter is wonderfully simple, AND (high five!) it uses a full can of pumpkin.

First, mix together:

• canned pumpkin
• granulated sugar + brown sugar
• oil or melted butter
• eggs
• vanilla

Then, add the dry ingredients (no need to whisk together separately before adding):

• flour
• baking powder + baking soda + salt
• cinnamon + nutmeg + allspice + ginger

Pro Tip: you can ditch the individual spices and sub with about 2 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice.

Mix the batter together until no dry streaks remain.

Don’t over mix! If you want light and fluffy muffins, take a gentle approach to mixing the batter.

Mini Muffins

Scoop the batter into mini muffin tins and bake until puffy. It won’t take long! The batch makes about 48 mini muffins.

If that seems like a whole heck of a lot of muffins, remember that these babies are bite-size, which means it’s incredibly easy to just be living your life one moment…and then realize you just accidentally inhaled six mini muffins the next.

Also, don’t use paper liners for the muffins. They get greasy and weird in the dunking-in-butter process. Plus the muffins retain a fun and fanciful donut hole vibe if left unpapered.

How to Make Muffins Taste Like Donuts

After the muffins have baked and cooled, it’s time to donut-tize them.

1. Dip the top of the mini muffin in melted butter
2. Immediately roll the top in cinnamon and sugar

For a thicker coating, roll the top of the muffin around a second time in the cinnamon and sugar. Optional, but highly supported.

The Best Little Muffins

These are easily some of the best muffins to come out of my kitchen. Even my kids, who sometimes get a little weary of a mom who fully embraces every variation of pumpkin baked goods this time of year (ok, all year long), go crazy for them.

One batch doesn’t last long around here.

These keep for several days, well-covered (the tops of the muffins do get a bit softer after being stored overnight). And they freeze well, too. But nothing beats them freshly dipped and dunked.

They are cute, fun, festive, and delicious! And if you want an incredibly delicious plain pumpkin mini muffin, just leave off the butter + cinn/sugar topping. They are perfect!

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Mini Pumpkin Donut Muffins

Yield: 48 mini muffins

Prep Time: 20 minutes mins

Cook Time: 11 minutes mins

Total Time: 31 minutes mins

5 stars (33 ratings)

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Ingredients

Muffins:

• 15-ounce can (425 g) canned pumpkin puree
• ½ cup (106 g) granulated sugar
• ½ cup (106 g) packed light brown sugar
• ½ cup (113 g) neutral-flavored oil or melted butter
• 2 large (100 g) eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 ¾ cups (249 g) all-purpose or whole wheat flour (see note)
• 1 ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
• ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt

Topping:

• 1 cup (212 g) granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• ½ cup (113 g) melted butter

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Instructions 

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease two mini muffin tins with cooking spray. Set aside.
• For the muffins, in a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, granulated sugar, brown sugar, oil or butter, eggs and vanilla until well-mixed.
• Add the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix until just combined and no dry streaks remain.
• Scoop the muffin batter into the prepared pans, filling about 2/3 to 3/4 full.
• Bake the muffins for 9-11 minutes until the tops spring back lightly to the touch. Remove the muffins from the tin and let cool completely on a cooling rack.
• For the topping, whisk together the sugar and cinnamon.
• Dip the top of each muffin in the melted butter followed by the cinnamon and sugar. (Roll the top of the muffin around a second time in the cinnamon and sugar for a thicker coating, if desired.)

Notes

Flour: if using whole wheat flour, measure with a light hand so the muffins aren’t dense. I prefer using white whole wheat or einkhorn wheat flour. The recipe works very well using half all-purpose flour and half whole wheat flour.

Pumpkin Pie Spice: you can use about 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice in place of the cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and allspice. 

Storing: these keep for several days in a covered container at room temperature (the tops of the muffins do get a bit softer after being stored overnight). They can also be frozen in freezer bags or a freezer-safe container. 

Author: Mel

Course: Bread

Cuisine: American

Method: Bake

Serving: 1 mini muffin, Calories: 72kcal, Carbohydrates: 10g, Protein: 1g, Fat: 3g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 11mg, Sodium: 91mg, Fiber: 0.5g, Sugar: 6g

Recommended Products

Mini Muffin Pan

Wire Whisk

Measuring Cups

Cooling Rack

Recipe Source: muffin batter slightly adapted from this favorite recipe (used a combination of brown sugar and white sugar, swapped out pumpkin pie spice for individual spices, added butter and cinn/sugar topping, made them mini-size)

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