Buckwheat Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Are you a pumpkin spice lover? If you are, you’re going to love this recipe! ‘Tis the season for pumpkin spiced everything. One of my favourite ways to enjoy this seasonal flavour is in muffin form. Pumpkin puree and warming spices make for a perfectly fluffy and flavourful muffin.

If you buy a pumpkin spice muffin at the store or your favourite coffee shop, you’re likely getting lots of sugar, gluten, and possibly additives that might not make you feel great. Don’t worry, you don’t have to give up your pumpkin spice baked goods if you want to feel great and take great care of your body! A few swaps to the typical recipe make these pumpkin spice muffins nourishing and gentler on your system. I know I feel much better after eating one of these compared to a bakery muffin because I’m sensitive to sugar.

Buckwheat, despite its name, is not wheat and contains no gluten. I love to use it as a wheat flour substitute because it doesn’t make baked goods dense like some other gluten free flour substitutes do. It is higher in protein, fibre, iron, and manganese than white flour.

The mashed banana in this recipe adds a little natural sweetness and the banana flavour compliments the pumpkin really well. The rest of the sweetness comes from coconut sugar. I like it as a granulated sugar substitute because it can be swapped 1:1 without any changes in texture. You don’t get the sugar spike with coconut sugar that you do with white sugar and it contains some minerals because it is less processed.

You can have one of these muffins for breakfast without worrying about a sugar crash before lunch. They have fibre, protein, and healthy fats to keep you full and your blood sugar more stable.

Recipe

Ingredients

2 cups of buckwheat flour
1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon of ground nutmeg
1 ½ teaspoons of baking soda
1 teaspoon of baking powder
½ teaspoon of salt
½ cup of coconut oil, melted and cooled
1 cup of coconut sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
1 medium banana, mashed
1 cup of pure pumpkin puree

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a muffin tin, or line with paper liners, and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the buckwheat flour, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
3. In a separate large bowl, whisk together the coconut oil, coconut sugar, eggs, vanilla, mashed banana, and pumpkin puree.
4. Pour the dry mixture into the wet mixture and stir until fully combined. The batter will be thick.
5. Scoop the batter into the muffin tin and bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean. Let them cool for a few minutes before removing from the pan.

Makes 12 muffins.

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Contributed by Melanie Maxwell, R.H.N.
https://www.vibrantlywell.com/