If you have been following along for a while now you know, I do not bake. There are very few things that I break this for and these pumpkin spice almond muffins is one of them. These festive Fall muffins are packed with cinnamon sugar and a subtle pumpkin spice flavor that’ll make you want to eat these all year round.
*This post is sponsored by Lifeway, as always all thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you for your support!
What if Kefir?
If you never had Kefir before, it is a cultured milk smoothie that is both smooth and tangy. Think drinkable yogurt, but better. The best part? Kefir is packed with protein, vitamin D, and with a ton of probiotics which is great for a healthy digestive system. In addition Kefir is a great option for most who are lactose and tolerant, Lifeway Kefir is up to 99% lactose free! Not sold yet? Check out the other great health benefits on their SITE. My favorite part though is that Kefir is a dream to bake with, and can substitute milk or yogurt in most recipes, making it an essential and key ingredient in these muffins.
What You’ll Need for Pumpkin Spice Almond Muffins
- Lifeway Kefir – These pumpkin spice muffins get half of their favor from the Lifeway seasonal Pumpkin Spice flavored Kefir.
- All-Purpose Flour
- Almond Meal – You can buy almond meal in most markets, or online. However if you have a spice grinder you can make it yourself, which is cheaper and it gives you more control over the consistency. If opting to make your own buy roasted unsalted almonds. A 1/2 cup at a time put the almonds in the spice grinder and pulse carefully until you have achieved a course sand like consistency (no big chunks!). Be careful though! If you grind too much you will be left with almond butter, delicious, but no use for this recipe.
- Canned Pumpkin
- Sugar
- Eggs
- Butter
- Cinnamon
- Baking Powder
- Vanilla Extract
Oh, did I mention these are coated in cinnamon sugar?
Oops, I forgot to mention that these are heavily coated in cinnamon sugar, because why not. After the muffins come out and have cooled down to room temperature they are given a little slather of butter and then rolled in sugar. Now I tried a few methods for this, and the best by far was using a brush or spoon and carefully coating the butter all over the muffin before rolling. A lot of other recipes call for you to roll the muffins in butter and then sugar, but i found that they got soggy and way too buttery.
A Few Tips
- Unlike their cousins, the cupcake, these muffins require you to fill the muffin tin 3/4 of the way vs a cupcake 1/2. It is okay if they have tall peaks and spill over the edges while baking, thats what we are aiming for.
- To line or not to line? As you can see I didn’t use liners when baking these. For starters, i don’t think you need to line all muffins. Second, as you see above we roll these in cinnamon sugar, if you line them you are just going to have to take the lining off. If you are scared they wont come out of the muffin tin easily use A LOT of cooking spray, i mean A LOT. Yes, they might get a little darker (not burnt) around the sides, don’t sweat it.
- As you are fully aware I do not bake, but when I do i try to measure in grams. Why? It is more accurate. The recipe below has gram measurements for the flour, almond meal, and sugar. If you have a scale I highly suggest you use it. Especially for the almond meal since the ground might not be as fine or course as I have mine.
- These muffins taste best fresh (of course) at room temp. However if you have leftover muffins store in a airtight container for up to 5 days. As for the leftover Kefir, it’s delicious on its own.
Pumpkin Spice Almond Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour 180 grams
- 1 cup almond meal 96 grams
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tsp baking power
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2/3 cup Lifeway Kefir Pumpkin Spice room temperature
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 1 stick butter room temperature
- 1/3 cup pureed pumpkin
- 2 tsp vanilla
Cinnamon Sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp cinnamon
- 1 stick butter melted
Instructions
- Bring all wet ingredients to room temperature before beginning.
- Measure out and combine dry ingredients (flour, almond meal, sugar, baking powder, and salt) *see above note if making almond meal from scratch.
- In a stand mixer or with a handheld mixer cream the butter and sugar for 5 minutes on low-medium speed until lighter in color and slightly fluffy.
- Mix in eggs one at a time. Add vanilla extract.
- Mix in kefir followed by pumpkin purre until combined.
- In 2 parts add the dry to the wet ingredients. DO NOT OVER MIX. Once combined cover with plastic wrap and let it sit out at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 400°, and prep the muffin tin, spraying generously with cooking spray. Once muffin batter has had enough time to sit fill each cavity about 3/4 of the way full.
- Bake for 19-21 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.
Cinnamon Sugar Coating
- Once muffins have cooled down to room temperature, melt 1 stick of butter. Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a separate bowl large enough to roll a muffin in.
- One by one coat the muffin in butter using a brush of a spoon and immediately roll in the cinnamon sugar. Set out for a few minutes to dry and set.
