These pumpkin spice muffins will warm your kitchen and home with the best holiday smells. It’s one of our most popular muffin recipes. Perfect for the sharing, bake sales and anytime you want to taste the holidays. It’s been a reader favorite since 2015!

Pumpkin Spice Muffin Recipe with Crumb Topping in muffin tin

From Coffee Cake to Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Our inspiration for developing blog recipes comes in many forms, but the ideas that we receive from all of you, our readers is the most encouraging. Since we published our pumpkin spice coffee cake recipe over two years ago, many readers asked about adapting it a pumpkin spice muffin with a crumb top. After fielding reader questions from our Facebook page, blog post and twitter, we’ve worked on making this recipe in muffin form. It was such an easy transition to make going from a coffee cake to muffins. The ratios are pretty similar and the wonderful, warm, earthy and holiday flavors remain intact.

Video: Pumpkin Spice Muffins Recipe

Voila! Here it is and we’ve made the recipe work for muffins without losing the texture and taste. In fact, we’ve made it several times and love it because it’s always fun to serve muffins for breakfast, especially when it’s topped with a great crumb topping. They’re the best batch to share with friends and family. Or better yet, bring a batch of these home baked pumpkin spice muffins to the office or your work. You’ll make so many people happy and lift their spirits. So doesn’t love a batch of warm, homemade muffins? These little gifts of kindness from the heart really bring people together.

Pumpkin Spice Muffins Recipe with Crumb Topping in muffin tin
Pumpkin Crumb muffins in tray

Pumpkin Spice Muffins with a Pecan Crumb Topping

Yield: 12 Muffins
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
This recipe is a muffin adaptation of our Pumpkin Spice Coffee Cake recipe. Baking times, temperature, and ingredient quantities have been adapted to better suit a muffin. As with the coffee cake recipe, feel free to substitute your favorite nut for the pecans, or even omit the nuts all together if needed. 
Also, we used dried cherries for the fruit, but you can use whatever dried fruit you like or have on hand. We’ll macerate or soak the dried cherries in a bit of coffee liqueur for extra flavor, but if you prefer you can always just soak the dried fruit in hot water for 10-20 minutes to rehydrate them enough so when the muffins bake the dried fruit is a bit more tender and not tough and chewy.
5 from 9 votes
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Ingredients

For the topping:

  • 1/4 cup (31 g) Flour
  • 1/4 cup (55 g) Brown Sugar
  • 1  teaspoon  (5 ml ) ground Cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) ground Ginger powder
  • Pinch Kosher Salt
  • 1/4 cup (57 g) cold unsalted Butter , cut into small chunks
  • 1/2 cup (55 g) finely chopped Pecans (or whichever nuts you prefer)

For the batter:

  • 1 cup  (40 g) Dried Fruit (raisins, dried cherries, cranberries, etc…)
  • Coffee Liqueur or dark Rum (optional), enough to cover the dried fruit (or use warm water)
  • 1 1/2  cups (188 g) All-Purpose Flour
  • 1  teaspoon (4 g) Baking Powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon (1 g) Baking Soda
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons (3 g) ground Cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon (1 g) ground Clove
  • 2 teaspoons (10 ml) fresh grated Ginger , or 1 teaspoon ground dried ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon (1.25 ml) freshly grated Nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon (3 g) Kosher Salt
  • 1/2 cup (114 g) Salted Butter (one stick), softened
  • 1 1/2 cups (330 g) Brown Sugar
  • 2 large Eggs
  • 2 teaspoons (10 ml) Vanilla Extract
  • 3/4 cup (184 g) Pumpkin Puree
  • 1/2 cup (115 g) Sour Cream or Greek Yogurt

Equipment

Instructions 

  • Preheat oven to 400°F/205°C. Grease the muffin tin cups or line with paper muffin liners. If macerating the dried fruit, soak them in coffee liqueur for about 20 minutes, pressing down the dried fruit occasionally to make sure the top ones get soaked, too.
    Macerating cranberries
  • Make the topping: In a bowl combine the 1/4 cup flour, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, and a pinch of salt. Pinch in the 1/4 cup of butter pieces, or use a pastry cutter, until it looks like coarse crumbs. Mix in the 1/2 cup chopped nuts, and then refrigerate the topping until ready to top the muffins.
    Pinching crumb topping
  • Make the batter: In a bowl, whisk or sift together the 1 1/2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon clove, 2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Set aside.
    Mixing dry ingredients
  • Beat the 1/2 cup butter and 1 1/2 cups brown sugar on medium-high until light and fluffy. Beat in the 2 eggs.
  • Stir in the 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 3/4 cup pumpkin puree, and 1/2 cup sour cream or greek yogurt. Drain the dried fruit from the liqueur and stir them into the batter.
    Stirring in dried fruit
  • Stir in the flour mixture until just combined.
    Stirring in dry to wet
  • Divide the batter between the prepared muffin tins (a large cookie scoop makes this task quick and easy).
    Scooping batter
  • Sprinkle the chilled crumb topping over the batter.
    Adding crumb topping
  • Bake at 400°F/205°C for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the muffins. Allow to cool, then remove from pan. Serve warm or at room temperature.
    Baked muffins

Video

Nutrition Information per Serving

Calories: 424kcal, Carbohydrates: 64g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 17g, Saturated Fat: 8g, Cholesterol: 66mg, Sodium: 170mg, Potassium: 179mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 48g, Vitamin A: 2840IU, Vitamin C: 0.7mg, Calcium: 79mg, Iron: 1.7mg
Course: Breakfast, Dessert, Snack
Cuisine: American
Calories: 424

Muffin Recipes