Baking pumpkin muffins with coconut flour is an opportunity for this grain free, gluten free, low carb flour to shine. I offer several muffin recipes using coconut flour, and the trick with all of them is to have enough moisture in the batter.
Coconut flour needs a lot of moisture in the batter and pumpkin has a lot of moisture to give. Between the liquid sweetener and the eggs, there is enough moisture to go around and make moist pumpkin muffins.
Getting the right balance of sweetness and moisture with coconut flour can be tricky as well. I find coconut flour more challenging to bake with than almond flour, but it doesn't stop me because I love the protein and fiber it offers. I also prefer not to taste the coconut fiber in my baked treats, and I don't want it too eggy either.
Rae Dawn Hadinger says
These are amazing! So good and so easy. I was wondering if I could double the recipe and bake in a loaf pan for bread.
Erica says
Thanks Rae! Yes, you can. The recipe for it is in my Healthy Coconut Flour Cookbook on page 48. Use the same ingredients listed here and bake at 350 F for about 40 minutes.
Jean Allen says
Just found this recipe for Pumpkin BREAD(!) or muffins using coconut flour only. Cannot wait to try it, and thank you!!! Six years of no baking after finding out I've been terribly gluten intolerant (and sick) for a good part of my life, and I've sorely missed baking and enjoying my old pumpkin and other quick bread recipes.
One general comment, and one question, if I may -- I bought your Coconut Flour Cookbook and am excited to try its recipes, but, like this website, I find the very faint and all-short-characters typestyle really difficult to read. I'm finding I'll need to rewrite the recipes I want to use so I don't make mistakes. You may want to up the boldness and lengthen the typestyle characters of the web and cookbook text for your readers -- it can make a big difference in recipe accuracy and success! 🙂
Question -- I may or may not be allergic to almonds, so I hesitate to start baking w almond flour (w or w/o coconut), even though it sounds like the results are perfect! I recently found out about tigernuts and their flour -- said to produce similar results as with almond flour!!! Allergies to it are rare since it's not a nut (some kind of tuber, I think), and it just needs sugars adjusted slightly due to its slightly sweet taste -- but it's ok for diabetics and has lots of fiber content. Have you heard about tigernut flour, and, if yes, do you think you may experiment w it in the future? Might be a great answer to getting almond flour results w/o the nut allergy issue!
Kind regards, and thank you SO MUCH for all you do!
Erica says
Thanks for the great feedback, Jean! I agree on the typeface for the cookbooks. For my site, it was recently updated based on feedback just like yours—that the type was small and faint. The type is now much larger, longer, and bolder (black on white for high contrast). The layout has more white space for easier reading and the layout between recipes and photos and text has increased dramatically. I'm always up for improvements, so please take a look and let me know why this layout is still not working for you. As for your almond question, I haven't used the flours you mention so I can't help there. Best wishes!
Ania says
Do I have to add honey? Is this recepie also possible to make without any honey or syrup?
Erica says
you might be able to substitute applesauce or banana, but I haven't tried it.
Bets says
Update: This morning, I substituted bananas for the pumpkin. I NEEDED more muffins and was out of pumpkin. Also, I didn't have the rest of the ingredients for the banana blueberry muffins. They came out delicious! I made both batches (pumpkin yesterday, banana today) so that my grandson, age 11, who was diagnosed with celiac disease, could have a healthy snack. He loved them. My 8 year old granddaughter asked for the pumpkin muffins for her birthday instead of cake. My 2 year old grand son stuffed them in his mouth as fast as possible. You can't get better endorsements than that! Thanks again for the recipes!
Bets says
I just made the Pumpkin Muffins with no substitutions. They are fabulous! Moist. Delicious. They are so good that there was no need to butter the muffins. (In the past, an entire stick of butter was used by the family when eating traditional or standard gluten-free muffins for breakfast.) The hard part is not eating the entire batch by myself! Since I don't have an 8-cup muffin tin, I increased the recipe by half. I increased all ingredients appropriately and they came out wonderfully. I can't wait to try some more muffin recipes. (The Silver Dollar pancakes are already a staple.) Thank you, Erica, for your hard work creating grain-free recipes using coconut flour. This has opened doors for my family and myself!
Erica says
Aw, thanks so much. Ha, butter is good though 😉
Greta says
First attempt at this recipe, just took it out of the oven, absolute pure deliciousness - I'm hoping there will be some left to freeze by the time it cools down. I added nuts and raising - LOVE it!!! Thank you.
Nicole says
I made these last night and they are delicious. Nice and moist. The only thing I will change next time is to majorly cut back on the honey and possibly use applesauce. While they are good, they are entirely too sweet for me - of course my kids aren't complaining 🙂
Rita says
Thankssssss for recipe , I followed the recipe (1/2c honey) and 35 min baking time and used canned pumpkin, turn out perfect and yummy 🙂
Erica says
good to hear! Enjoy
Jennifer says
Was DYING for a Paleo sweet potato bread with coconut flour! Not terribly impressed with my almond flour attempts (probably need to try another brand). These were AMAZING. I'm totally in love. Perfect quick bread texture. Did add a Tbsp or 2 do coconut oil & some walnuts. Killed the craving I've had since the Christmas cookie platters started rolling into the office 😉
Theresa says
Sugar (syrup,honey) substitute: I substitued 1/4 cup almond milk (any milk will do) with 1/4tsp liquid stevia (Trader Joes brand) and 1/4 tsp extract of anything (I had maple extract, so I used that, so good)
I also added a couple Tbsp shredded coconut and coco-nibs. I think I would add a little coconut oil next time.
Betty King says
Thanks for the honey substitute. I have a severe sugar addiction and really sets it off.
Joy says
Great! I was looking for a low carb recipe using pumpkin and coconut flour. I doubled the recipe and baked it in a bundt pan. I used sugar free syrup as my sweetner (all I had other than real sugar) and I used 6 eggs and 1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream. Turned out moist and delicious. With some vanilla cream cheese glaze it was delicious!
Cecilia says
Thank you Comfy Belly for the yummiest muffins I have ever tasted the past 11 gluten free years of my life! You even got me baking, something I had never done before - started with your pumpkin bread two weeks ago, the recipe where there was banana added as well and went on to the muffins this weekend.
Yum! Thanks!
Landria Voigt says
These look amazing! I just made some carrot cake waffles the other day but this really feels like a fall treat!! Can't wait to try them! Oh and do you ever use the silicon muffin holders. They are the best thing since sliced bread...well, you know what I mean. Love your site!
Erica says
Thanks! Yes to the silicon holders. They just don't look as nice in photos 🙂
Shari Rozansky says
Mmmmmm - I can't stop mmmmming:)
Just delicious! I kept the recipe as is - used maple syrup, no walnuts and added golden raisins to the batter.
Delicious nutritious treat and my family really enjoyed them. Next time I'll have to make a double batch:)
Thanks for the recipe!
lisa says
Has anyone had luck when subbing for eggs in any of these grain free recipes? My son is gluten and egg allergic=( we use alot of egg substitute but wasnt sure if you could sub out that many eggs
Eileen @ Phoenix Helix says
I was just about to make this recipe, but noticed there's no fat included. Is this an oversight, or intentional?
Erica says
intentional 🙂 It's lighter than some of my other pumpkin recipes, but well-liked.
Stephanie Smith says
Delicious! I was looking for a coconut flour pumpkin bread recipe and this one was perfect! Thank you thank you thank you!!! I seriously couldn't be happier! And it's my birthday, and I made this for breakfast! Tasty and easy!
Kimberly says
Wow!! These are SO GOOD! I LOVE THEM! I made them to take to a halloween party tonight, and its a miracle there are any of them left to take a long. I made a double batch, and turrned them into mini muffins! Love them!
They went straight into my recipe book! Thanks!
AJ says
When you say you use the convection setting, does that mean you put it to 325? Since if the recipe calls for it to be 350, you would do the convection 25 below that. Or Do you just do it in the convection at 350?
Erica says
I use convection bake at the setting in the recipe. So if it calls for 375 degrees F, I set it at 375 degrees in convection bake mode. Supposedly convection just speeds up the baking time, but my experience is that, depending on the oven, it bakes at a hotter temperature as well. Ovens vary, unfortunately.
Mari says
I baked these muffins yesterday. They turned out to be amazing! Thank you sooo much!
Ladonna says
Nicole, I used canned pumpkin and made the bread. It was amazing! Hubby ate it all in less than two days!
Nicole says
Has anyone tried this with canned pumpkin instead? I happen to have some around and I'd rather use that than run out to buy something else.
Hannah says
I started making these and realized I only had 2 eggs left. Then I tried to switch to Pumpkin Bread 2.0 and realized I had no almond flour left. I've just entered experimental baking territory.
Linda says
These were really great and turned out well. They are a little sweet - I used organic raw honey.. I think I'll try a combination of applesauce and honey next time, or agave. Thanks for posting this!
eric says
Wow, these might be the best muffins I've ever had. Amazing that they are GF and SCD. As someone mentioned, I think I'll try applesauce instead of honey one time. So moist and fluffy. Thanks for sharing.
Liza says
I was so excited about making these but I think I faile miserably. My batter was not much of a batter at all but instead was very crumbly and dry. I made sure I used all the ingredients but they turned out awful!! Maybe I didn't get the right amount of flour...forgive my terrible math skills but how much is 3/8 of a cup? Any suggestions are appreciated!!
Erica says
so sorry! 3/8 is a tricky one. I added the breakdown: 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons.
Liza says
Well, if I had not failed fractions in elementary school these muffins might have turned out better! 🙂 i put wayyy too much flour in them. They tasted so good that I hated to let it go to waste. so I ended up making bread pudding with almond milk and eggs with the leftovers. It turned out great!! Can't wait to try these again with the *right* amount of flour!! 🙂
Erica says
Hope it works better the next time. I was a chemistry major and I still make mistakes. No worries. Enjoy!
Yolanda says
That is so interesting! Do you find that your knowledge of how ingredients work together chemically come into play with your cooking? I have a daughter who is 11 and is an amazing cook and baker, makes up her own recipes. She says she can smell what ingredients would go well together! I’d be interested in a chemistry-based cookbook!
Erica says
Yes, for sure :). There are some great chemistry-based cookbooks out there, and agree, they are very interesting.
carrie says
These were great!! I added walnuts and a small amount of dark chocolate chips and sprinkled walnuts on the tops of the muffins before baking. I also used half maple syrup, half honey. I've tried making other recipes with coconut flour, and these are definitely the yummiest of them!!
Deeza says
I love this! Thank you for posting. I never know what to do with coconut flour. I have made this twice now and my kids love it ( they are pretty picky). I skip the paper liners and use silicone muffin molds instead. Then they don't stick nearly as much.
Erica says
thanks! PS I use a brand of stick-free muffin liners: http://astore.amazon.com/comfybelly-20/detail/B000FAIR96
Patiences says
I just made these; yum! Coconut flour is so tricky, but this was a great recipe. I used my donut pan instead of the muffin tin, and the kids loved them. I think the next time I make them I will use less honey; 3/4 cup was a little too much for my taste buds. Thank you for the recipe!
Dianne says
Thank you for such a wonderful recipe! My second batch is in the oven now...I doubled the recipe and used canned puree and added dried cranberries along with the walnuts and baked in a 9x13. Last time I bagged the individual portions and frozen them. They are soft and moist 5 minutes after removing them from the freezer and perfect with our morning cup of coffee. My GF husband is especially thankful!
I also made the vanilla cupcakes for Easter...delicious! We made regular powdered sugar icing that we colored with a little beet water for sweet pink cuppy cakes. What a treat!
Erica says
you're welcome! good to know they froze well.
Jenni says
Made these today and they were fantastic! I now use coconut flour exclusively for all my baking... turned out great!
I did however omit the honey and added homemade applesauce mixed with stevia and a little xyltiol instead.
They were moist and flavorful! Served them to friends (who are not gluten or sugar free) and everyone loved them. Thanks for the recipe! Keep em comin 😉
Erica says
Thanks for the change-up info! I love the idea of applesauce (or even pear sauce).
Pam says
How much applesauce and stevia?
JUlie says
Yes, How much of each for us sugar free peeps 🙂
Erica says
I would check your stevia brand/label for conversions but I'll take a guess that it was 1/2 teaspoon of stevia powder. Here are the subs: 1/4 cup applesauce = 1 egg. For a good chart on stevia replacement, see here: http://www.stevia.net/conversion.html
Most folks don't completely replace the honey or maple syrup, just about 1/2 of it to avoid a bitter aftertaste.
Kathleen says
I used smashed pumpkin instead of pureed and increased the flour to 1/2 cup to accommodate for high altitude (6500 ft). It had to cook for about 15 minutes longer but came out moist and tastes great. Thanks for the recipe!
Mel (@ Mel's Kitchen) says
These look SOOOO moist and good! Do you really find almond flour moister? It does have much more oil, but coconut is more hygroscopic. I can't use eggs in my baking, so I can't use coconut flour exclusively... it really needs the eggs. But these look good so I'll try them out! (Using my necessary substitutions...)
Beautiful photos!
~Mel
Briana says
A good egg substitute is 1 tablespoon ground chia seeds and 2 tablespoons water. Let it sit for about 5-10 minutes and it should gel up. It's equivalent to 1 egg.
Heather Starr on Facebook says
these are so yummy! thank you!
michelle says
Can these be made with stevia or xylitol?
Kelli K. says
I was wondering that as well. If you substitute a dry sweetener, do you need to add another egg or some other wet ingredient?
Erica says
see Jenni's comment below for info on stevia, etc.
Yadsia @ShopCookMake says
I have every ingredient in the pantry already. Will be making this tomorrow for breakfast!
Rachel C- UntilTheThinLadySings.com says
PS how did they NOT stick to the papers? I have the worst time with coconut flour muffins sticking. But maybe because I use different sweeteners. I may have to try your recipe with honey to see if that is the trick!
Erica says
They might be sticking to the paper if there's too much sweetener, or as you say, it's the kind of sweetener. But honey and maple syrup are sticky too. Maybe less egg as well?
Sunshine says
A little trick i learned while attempting to bake low carb is to spay the inside of the muffin papers with a mist cooking oil like 'Pam' before filling them with the muffin mix. Some times they still stick a little.. But they no longer steal the entire outer side & bottom of my muffins. Best wishes
Erica says
Great tip! Thanks for sharing that.
Leanne says
Coconut flour muffins used to stick all the time for me too, until I switched to different baking liners. I now use If You Care Unbleached Baking Cups, they're like a cross between parchment & wax paper. Now every time I makes these, I get to enjoy every last crumb without having to eat the liner!
Rachel C- UntilTheThinLadySings.com says
Funny to see this today, I am making and posting my recipe today too for the same thing! Tis the season! I bet they were more moist the second day- right? Coconut flour baked goods get more and more moist every day. I'll link to your recipe on my FB site. Looks good!
Amber Link on Facebook says
Thank you for posting this! I have been looking for a pumpkin muffin recipe using coconut flour for a few days now (I'm trying to use up 5 pounds of coconut flour) and all I've found is almond flour recipes until now.