Maple Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Muffins [grain-free, gluten-free, option for dairy free and nut free]

These muffins use coconut flour to make them totally grain free, and they make an excellent addition to Sunday brunch! (An FYI: Coconut flour acts totally different than other flours because it absorbs a ton of moisture, so you can’t sub it 1:1 for another kind of flour, like you can with other gluten-free flours.)

They are definitely quite sweet, but if you wanted less sugar, you could substitute half or all of the maple syrup in the batter for more pumpkin, and omit the maple syrup from the topping.

I started with this recipe, then modified it with pumpkin instead of squash and maple syrup in place of the honey, and did six generously sized muffins instead of a dozen. If you wanted to do a dozen smaller muffins, just fill the muffin cups up 2/3 of the way, and reduce cooking time to 20 minutes.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 cup fresh or canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup grass-fed butter, melted (we use Kerrygold) or coconut oil or ghee* for dairy-free
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 3 pastured eggs
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

For topping:

• 2 Tbsp grass-fed butter, melted (or coconut oil or ghee* for dairy free)
• 2 Tbsp maple syrup
• 1 Tbsp cinnamon

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350. Mix together the ingredients for the topping and set aside.
• Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
• In a separate bowl, whisk the wet ingredients, then add to the bowl with the dry ingredients. Mix everything together until combined.
• Fill the muffin tins 3/4 full with the batter (about a third to a half cup), and spoon the butter and cinnamon mixture over the top, sprinkling the pecans evenly over the muffins.
• Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. The pecans should be toasted but not burnt. If you have a thermometer, the muffins are done when their internal temperature reaches 205-210.

*Ghee is just butter with the dairy solids (i.e. the proteins and sugars) removed, so it’s 100% butterfat. When people have a sensitivity or allergy to dairy, it’s usually to the proteins (like casein) or sugars (like lactose), so ghee is more likely to be tolerated.

This post was originally from October 2013, and was updated December 2019.