One-Bowl Sugar Free Pumpkin & Ginger Muffins

These delicious sugar free pumpkin and ginger muffins are soft, fluffy and light. Perfect for a weekend breakfast treat.

Last week, my mum had a big birthday. Let’s call it 21 and some months, as she does…

I was in charge of the cake, and knew immediately what to make for her. One I remember her making when we were growing up that we all love, particularly her (and me): pumpkin and ginger.

I am an orange veg addict. Weird thing to be addicted to, perhaps, but seriously, half the reason I love this time of year is to have a big bowl of pumpkin soup and freeze as much sweet potato puree as I can fit in the freezer for the million and one things I want to make with it.

My husband and children share this love of beta-carotene-rich foods for the most part, and fortunately my parents and sister are pretty happy with it, too.

So I’ve been knee-deep in pumpkin puree (anyone else go to a weird visual place? Just me?) for the last couple of weeks trying to perfect a pumpkin and ginger cake, and while I was preparing, I made several batches of it in muffin form. And I actually preferred it.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE pumpkin and ginger cake. But conventional recipes are full of sugar and have become too sweet for my adapted tastebuds. So cutting the sugar content and serving them as muffins has been a great way to test them without consuming a crazy amount of sweet things!

These are delicious, and particularly good with a few chopped pecans, very dark chocolate chips or cacao nibs thrown in.

And if you are less enthusiastic about orange vegetables, just reduce the pumpkin to 1/2 cup, and you can’t taste it. Or replace with apple sauce! Either way, these muffins taste of sweet, warming, cinnamon-rich autumnal flavours. And who doesn’t love that?

Little hands can:

• mix the ingredients together
• scoop the mixture into the muffin cases

Please note: we reduce the xylitol to less than 3/4 cup for ourselves, especially when we eat these as breakfast muffins as opposed to dessert ones. Feel free to do the same, but I added more in the recipe as I realise that they are not particularly sweet this way. If you are not a xylitol fan, do substitute for erythritol/Natvia, sugar, or your favourite sweetener, but be aware that they may not be “sugar free”, just lower in sugar than your average muffin recipe!

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One-Bowl Sugar Free Pumpkin & Ginger Muffins

Prep Time

5 mins

Cook Time

20 mins

Total Time

25 mins

 

These sugar free pumpkin & ginger muffins are warming, soft and fluffy. They are made in one bowl in minutes and make a perfect weekend breakfast treat.

Servings: 12 muffins

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (100g) coconut oil or unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup (140g) wholemeal spelt or wholewheat flour (you can use plain/all-purpose) if you prefer
• 1/4 cup (30g) oat flour (or grind 1/4 cup oats in a food processor yourself)
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• pinch sea salt
• 1 and 1/2 tsp pumpkin spice mix (or use 1/2 tsp cinnamon with a pinch (1/8 tsp) each of nutmeg and ginger, and add a tiny pinch of cloves)
• 1 and 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 2 medium eggs (use flax eggs for vegan)
• 1 tsp sugar free vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp (180g) xylitol*
• 1/4 tsp molasses
• 1 cup (250g) unsweetened canned pumpkin puree (or make your own by roasting pumpkin/squash/sweet potato pieces until soft and blending to a puree)
• 3 tbsp olive oil (or 3 more tbsp melted coconut oil)
• 1/4 cup (50g) dark unsweetened chocolate chips or 1/4 cup (50g) chopped pecans or walnuts, optional

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F/gas 4.
2. Mix all the cake ingredients together, except the chocolate or nuts, in the order stated. Gently fold in the chocolate or nuts, if using.
3. Pour into a greased 12-hole muffin tray, filling the muffin cups about 2/3 full.
4. Bake for 20-25 mins, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of a muffin comes out clean.
5. Serve warm on their own or with cream or yogurt.

Recipe Notes

*xylitol is a natural sweetener that can be used in a 1:1 ratio in place of sugar. It is safe for humans, but fatal to dogs (so no pooches near these!). It is known to promote dental health, but can cause some stomach upset in people if consumed in large doses, so make sure you don't eat the whole batch in one go! 😉 If you don't want to use xylitol, sub in your favourite sweetener or sugar - they may not be sugar free, but they will still be much lower than a normal muffin recipe. If using a liquid sweetener, make sure to up the flour or reduce the amount of other liquid ingredients like the melted oil to make the batter the right consistency!

Looking for more weekend treats? You’ll find plenty here!