A simple recipe with fall flavors to make on repeat, these pumpkin muffins are soft and moist with that tangy bite from the chewy cranberries we love so much. They are easy to make, freeze wonderfully, and you can adjust the spices to your palate. I recently retested them and tweaked the amount of dried cranberries and simplified the mixing process. So they're now better than ever!
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Sweet and tangy muffins
When pumpkin season starts, be sure that I'll have new recipes to share. Pumpkin is one of my favorite flavors (hands-down!) with all those warm spices and unique taste.
This recipe uses dried cranberries, which are available year-round and add chewy, sweet-tart pockets throughout the muffins.
I consider it a perfect pumpkin muffin recipe to bake as soon as the season starts. The aroma in the kitchen as they bake is one to remember.
This blog has a lot of new and improved pumpkin recipes in past years, and the muffin recipes got a boost lately with the addition of pumpkin banana muffins, this one and the very popular, soft pumpkin maple muffins that have no refined sugar.
Testing notes
Paula's baking tips that make a difference.
Sift the dry ingredients. It adds some air to the batter, which helps with softness. And this recipe has baking soda, which can clump during storage and be hard to dissolve during baking.
If you're afraid of the dried cranberries clumping or sinking, toss them in flour first (use a tablespoon or two from the total amount), and don't overfill the cups. This batter holds them well; I never had this issue.
Fill them no more than ¾ of their capacity to avoid overflow during baking.
I like paper liners for convenience and transportation, but you can grease the muffin tins.
Double batch: this recipe can easily be doubled if making them for a large crowd or if you want to make ahead and freeze.
Ingredients
Quantities are listed in the recipe card toward the end of this post. The Ingredients page has more details and lists the brands I use.
- Pumpkin purée: use canned pumpkin or make your own pumpkin purée. Please don't mistake it for pumpkin pie filling, which is a different product. Look for pure pumpkin.
- Spices: I use a combination of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice. Sometimes, I add the smallest pinch of cloves. Or use your favorite homemade pumpkin pie spice or store-bought. As long as you like it, it's fine.
- Orange: I use fresh orange zest when possible, but recently tested them with orange extract and it worked really well.
- Vanilla: I use pure vanilla extract or pure vanilla paste when available, but a good vanilla essence (artificially flavored) also works and is infinitely cheaper.
- Oil: I use sunflower because it doesn't add extra flavor, and I want the pumpkin to shine. But you can use any type, even a light olive oil.
- Baking powder and baking soda: make sure they aren't expired.
Variations
- Sweet potatoes: you can easily substitute sweet potato puree for the pumpkin. Same amount. As for spices, they also go well with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice.
- Oil substitutes: you can use natural plain yogurt (Greek-style) instead, ⅔ cup. Or melted butter, same volume (cups) as oil.
- Sweeteners: you can use only white sugar, making them a little sweeter and less moist. A tablespoon or two of maple syrup can be added for a different flavor; reduce the same amount of sugar.
- Flours: you can substitute some white flour for almond flour or coconut. Make sure they are finely ground. It will change the texture slightly, making the muffins more rustic and not as fluffy.
- Chocolate chips: substitute for the cranberries or use half of each.
- Craisins: they're a cross between cranberries and raisins and work well.
How to make pumpkin cranberry muffins
Wet ingredients
Combine the pumpkin puree and other wet ingredients in a medium bowl until fully integrated.
If you want to use an electric mixer, do so only for this step. Add the dry ingredients by hand to avoid overmixing.
Use a whisk to add the dry ingredients
You only need a hand whisk. An electric mixer is highly discouraged from this step on, as it's easy to overmix the muffin batter, and that can create tough muffins.
Preparing the muffin pan
Paper liners: also called paper cups or muffin liners. This is the easiest way, but the muffin tops are the only part that will be crusty.
Butter or baking spray: this is messier, and you have to wash the pan afterward, but the crust forms all around the muffins because the whole surface touches the metal.
Divide the pumpkin batter as evenly as possible so the muffins bake better. I use a cookie scoop.
Baking
Bake according to the instructions on the recipe card. They will rise and crack, and that is fine.
When are they done? A cake tester or toothpick inserted should come out clean. When this happens, remove the pan from the oven and let it cool on a wire rack.
Glaze
A powdered sugar glaze adds a layer of sweetness and makes for gorgeous-looking muffins.
You get a more festive look if you sprinkle the glaze with chopped cranberries.
How to make the glaze: mix a cup of powdered sugar with 2 tablespoons of orange juice. If it's too thick, add more juice, ¼ teaspoon at a time, until it's like thick honey. Drizzle the cool muffins and let them dry before serving.
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Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins Recipe (quick and easy)
Ingredients
- ¾ cup sunflower oil
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated white sugar
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- ¾ cup pumpkin puree, canned or homemade pumpkin puree
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon orange zest, I tried ½ teaspoon of orange extract instead, and it works very well
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice mix, or more if you like them spicier (or make your own, see Notes below)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¼ cups dried cranberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Butter or spray 12 regular muffin tins or line them with paper cups.
- Beat ¾ cup sunflower oil with ½ cup light brown sugar and ½ cup granulated white sugar for 1 minute in a large mixing bowl.
- Add 2 eggs one by one, beating until fully incorporated, but don't overmix.
- Add the rest of the wet ingredients: ¾ cup pumpkin puree, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon orange zest and 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice mix. Integrate until smooth.
- Add the sifted dry ingredients (2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda and ½ teaspoon salt) to the pumpkin mixture in 2 parts, integrating well but not beating - just mixing. I do it by hand with a spatula. You can have the dry ingredients measured and sift them as you add them, or have them already sifted in a medium bowl.
- Add 1 ¼ cups dried cranberries and fold them in with a spatula.
- Fill the paper liners up to ¾ of their capacity to avoid overflow during baking.
- Bake for about 25 minutes or until a cake tester or toothpick comes out dry. The top of the muffins will be slightly cracked and golden brown.
- Let cool on a wire rack.
- Store covered at room temperature for two days and then refrigerate or freeze, covered or wrapped. Warm lightly in the oven before eating.
Marlene Gris says
Your recipe was bang on totally delicious, light and fluffy. I don't usually manipulate recipes before trying them but I did cut down the fat a bit by using 1/2 cup oil and 1/4 cup home made applesauce.
The reason I did that is because I knew I wanted a crunchy topping on them so this is what I added on top before baking:
1/3 cup raw pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup whole rolled oats
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
1/4 tsp.nutmeg
1 Tbsp melted butter
Just tossed it all and gently pressed some on each.
Will definitely make these again!
Paula Montenegro says
That topping sounds amazing Marlene! Glad you liked them. Have a great week.