Tender and moist, nutritious with whole grain flour, naturally sweetened with maple syrup and generously studded with tart dried cranberries and pumpkin seeds, make these maple cranberry pumpkin muffins your entry into pumpkin madness season!!
Just when you think you’re safe and not going there, the bug hits. You try to ignore them and then all the pumpkin recipes smash right into you–everywhere you go! Pumpkin recipes–they’re rampant. As you can see, I got caught. I couldn’t let the season go by without sharing this recipe for super-moist pumpkin-spiced muffins.
Click here to PIN Maple Cranberry Pumpkin Muffins.
Grab 2 bowls, one for the wet, one for the dry. Whisk everything together, scoop into muffin tins, (Affiliate link) and bake. Easy. You gotta love muffins!
After your muffins are out of the oven and you’ve had your first bite, pat yourself on the back. You’ve made a batch of incredibly delicious pumpkin-spiced muffins! Bet you can’t eat just one.
If the pumpkin wave hasn’t splashed your world yet, it’s time. Dive in and blend cinnamon and her spicy friends into your own homemade pumpkin pie spice mix.
Just so you know, some, but not all of the links in this post are affiliates. When you purchase products via my links, it doesn’t cost you anything and I earn a tiny commission, which helps me continue to provide free content here on Letty’s Kitchen. Thank you!!
Spiced Maple Cranberry Pumpkin Muffins recipe details:
- Dried cranberries are generally sweetened with cane sugar, but you can find them sweetened with apple juice. (Affiliate link) Be sure to check the label.
- A multi-purpose ice cream scoop drops uniform clean portions of muffin batter into tins. The handy scoops come in different sizes–look for a number engraved on the metal bar that moves inside the scoop—the number tells approximately how many scoops to a quart. My go-to muffin scoop is a (#16), which holds a little less than 1/3 cup, like this one, (Affiliate link) or this one. (Affiliate link)
- Pumpkin and chocolate go together like Cinderella and her glass slipper. If you’d like, stir ½ to ¾ cup of chocolate morsels into your batter, instead of or along with the cranberries and pumpkin seeds.
- At Thanksgiving, instead of dinner rolls, Robbie’s family always served pumpkin bread. These pumpkin muffins are a riff off the Pumpkin Pecan Bread from my Chocolate Snowball cookbook. (Affiliate link)
More muffin ideas:
- You might also like these Double Chocolate Maple Pear Muffins.
- Looking for a gluten-free muffin? Try these Apple Cinnamon Quinoa Muffins.
- These Blueberry Maple Hemp Muffins are made with spelt flour.
What is “White” Whole Wheat Flour?
- “White” whole wheat flour is ground from white wheat berries. It’s a whole grain flour, which means it includes the bran, germ, and endosperm of the wheat grain, just like they grind regular whole wheat flour from hard red wheat berries. These two flours are basically interchangeable.
- I like white whole wheat flour for baking because of its lighter color and flavor. Organic white wheat flour used to be easy to find at Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods but I don’t see it as often on the shelves. I buy it at Natural Grocers (Affiliate link) or through Amazon. (Affiliate link.)
Make it a fabulous week–get in the kitchen and bake something pumpkin-y!
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** This is an update of the spiced cranberry maple muffins I posted several years ago. It was time to bring this awesome recipe to the front of the blog!
If you make this recipe and love it, please consider leaving a blog post comment. Your comments help other readers learn more about the recipe. If you’d also give the recipe a ✮✮✮✮✮ rating, I’d be delighted!
Spiced Maple Cranberry Pumpkin Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups white whole wheat flour or whole wheat flour (see note)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 ¾ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 2 eggs
- ¾ cup maple syrup
- 1/3 cup grapeseed or avocado oil
- 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
- 1 3/4 cups (15-ounce can) pumpkin puree
- 1 cup dried cranberries (ideally apple juice-sweetened, see note)
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped pumpkin seeds
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Coat 12 muffin cups with oil, or spray generously with cooking spray. To make sure muffins release with ease, coat the top of the pan as well.
- Whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice together in a large bowl. In a second bowl, whisk the eggs, maple syrup, oil, vinegar, vanilla and orange zest until smooth. Whisk in the pumpkin puree.
- Using a wire whisk, mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Stir in the dried cranberries and ½ cup of the pumpkin seeds. Divide into the prepared muffin tins. Sprinkle with the remaining pumpkin seeds.
- Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean and the tops of the muffins spring back when touched with a finger. Cool 5 to 10 minutes, and then remove from the pan.
Notes
- White whole wheat flour includes the bran, germ and endosperm of the wheat grain. It's ground from white wheat berries, as opposed to hard red wheat berries.
- Many dried cranberries are sweetened with cane sugar. Look for ones sweetened with apple juice.
I’ve been bit by that bug too! I just found myself converting a apple strudel recipe into a pumpkin strudel recipe. However, these photos are so sumptuous that my pumpkin bug bite may have had its itch scratched. GREG · 25 October, 2015
Yum! · 25 October, 2015
Love that this is without sugar! Thanks!
Where do you find unsweetened cranberries? · 6 September, 2019
Good question. Apple-juice sweetened cranberries. They used to sell them at Whole Foods but now that it’s Jeff’s store no more. I think you’ll have to call around to the best health food store in your area. Or have you ever ordered from Vitacost? They sell them online. With the recipe, I linked to an Amazon product but it is expensive. You should be able to find them somewhere local for a decent price.
Letty · 6 September, 2019
I love pumpkin and fresh cranberries! These muffins look so fluffy and perfect…I’d love to try them with oat flour! · 8 September, 2019
Good idea. Next time I make them I’ll use oat flour. · 9 September, 2019
Please report, as then the recipe would be gluten free. That is valuable information for me. Thanks! · 9 September, 2019
That looks perfect for the fall season! Bet it’s gonna taste even better · 19 September, 2019
Thank you! Be sure to add chocolate chips! · 21 September, 2019
Mmmm! I’m sure they’re extremely delicious! I do adore both pumpkin and cranberries. Thank you for this fall recipe 🙂 · 24 September, 2019
Thank you Anna! You will truly love these muffins! · 24 September, 2019