A celebration of Fall, these pumpkin muffins are filled with cranberries, carrot, apple, raisins and seeds, for a better-for-you muffin.

pumpkin cranberry muffins on cooling rack

My classic pumpkin muffin recipe is the 1950’s. It’s the perfect pumpkin muffin (in my opinion) in terms of taste, texture and moistness. It’s pure pumpkin muffin enjoyment and there will always be a place for that pleasure in my life now and then.

There is also room in my life for a version of pumpkin muffin that offers up a bit more – a pumpkin muffin that maybe delivers up maybe some extra fibre and vitamins, too. It still needed to taste great though, and be moist and light in texture. This is that muffin!

I reduced the oil and the added sugar by half, compared to my original recipe. I also managed to pack these muffins with cranberries, apple, carrots, raisins and seeds, working out to just about 1/2 serving of fruits/vegetable per muffin! The best part of all, is that they are still wonderfully delicious, moist and satisfying.

Ingredient Notes

Cranberries We were just a little early for the fresh, local cranberries, so frozen cranberries were used here. Thaw the cranberries before cutting in half and adding to batter. Of course, if fresh cranberries are in season, even better!

Apples: Use any moderately sweet, red-skinned apple. There are lots of varieties of local apples available at Zehrsâ„¢ this Fall.

Raisins: Any type of raisin is fine here.

Pepitas: Also known as pumpkin seeds. I used raw unsalted pumpkin seeds, though salted is fine here, as well.

Milled Flax Seed: Milled flax seed is simply whole flax seeds that has been ground up. Our bodies have trouble breaking down the whole flax seeds, so using milled flax seed allows us to enjoy the full health benefits of the flax seed. The milled flaxseed simply adds extra goodness to these muffins. You can omit, without issues, if you like.

Oil: I reduced the oil from my classic pumpkin muffins in half, so these are already reduced in that respect. If you wished, you could replace 1/2 cup of the oil with applesauce, though it will affect the moistness of the resulting muffin.

Sugar: Again, the sugar is reduced by half from my classic pumpkin muffins, so I don’t feel there is a ton or room to reduce it drastically more. As noted below, you can skip the sugar topping easily, to reduce the sugar further.

Cook’s Notes

Feel free to omit any of the apple, carrot or raisins if you prefer or you don’t have all on hand.

The actual muffin itself is not super sweet. The bit of sugar in the topping fools you into thinking it’s sweeter than it actually is. I like that. If you’d prefer to skip the sugar topping, simply sprinkle the chopped pepitas/pumpkin seeds on top of the muffins before baking.

As these muffins are reduced in oil and sugar, the shelf life will be shorter than a full fat/sugar muffin. These muffins will freeze well, so you can freeze any you can’t eat in the first couple of days.

Top Tip! When making muffins and all the muffin cups aren’t filled, fill the empty cups in the tin half full with water before putting in the oven. This will help your muffins bake evenly.

pumpkin cranberry muffins split open on parchment

Get the Recipe: Harvest Pumpkin Muffins

Pumpkin cranberry muffins, with added carrot, apple, raisins and a little flaxseed, for extra goodness.
4.86 stars from 7 ratings
Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 25 mins
Total Time: 40 mins
Yield: 9 muffins

Ingredients

Batter:

  • 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 5 tsp milled flax seed
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup canola oil, or sunflower, vegetable oil etc.
  • 1 cup pumpkin puree
  • 3/4 cup cranberries, fresh or frozen (thawed), halved
  • 1/2 cup raisins, plumped
  • 1/2 cup carrot, shredded
  • 1/4 cup apple, shredded
  • 1 Tbsp all purpose flour

Topping:

  • 2 Tbsp all purpose flour
  • 2 Tbsp brown sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 2 Tbsp pepitas, chopped
  • 1 Tbsp butter, cold

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 375F. Line 9 muffin cups with paper liners
    and set aside.
  • Set raisins (if using) in a bowl of hot water and allow to
    stand for 10 minutes (plumping the raisins). Drain and pat dry before adding to the
    batter.
  • Prepare the Topping by whisking together the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and chopped pepitas. Add the 1 Tbsp cold butter and use your fingertips to gently rub the butter into the dry ingredients until crumbly. Set aside.
  • In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, white sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and flax seed.
  • In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil and pumpkin. 
  • In a separate medium bowl, combine the fresh cranberries,
    soaked/drained and dried raisins, carrot and apple. Sprinkle with 1 Tbsp all
    purpose flour and toss to combine.
  • Add the egg/oil/pumpkin mixture to the flour mixture and using a spoon, stir until combined and no flour is visible. Stir in the cranberry/fruit mixture and stir until combined.
  • Divide batter between the 9 muffins cups. Sprinkle topping mixture on top. Fill any empty muffin cups 1/2 full with water to ensure your muffins bake evenly.
  • Bake in preheated oven for 22-25 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Remove from oven. Allow to cool in the pans for 5 minutes, then gently remove from tins and place on a cooling rack to cool completely.

Notes

Be sure to read the “Ingredient and Cook's Notes" (above the recipe card!), where I share more detailed  tips, variations and substitution suggestions for this recipe!
Cuisine: American, Canadian
Course: Snack
Author: Jennifer
Serving: 1muffin, Calories: 271kcal, Carbohydrates: 33g, Protein: 5g, Fat: 14g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 41mg, Sodium: 217mg, Potassium: 142mg, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 13g, Vitamin A: 5326IU, Vitamin C: 3mg, Calcium: 59mg, Iron: 2mg
Tried this recipe?Mention @seasonsandsuppers on Instagram or tag #seasonsandsuppers.

 

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