If ever pumpkin was in season and very trendy, right now in the middle of January wouldn’t be it. October and November are the widely accepted norm for pumpkin. I mean, heck, there was pretty much a shortage of pumpkin puree this past year… if that doesn’t scream seasonal to the fullest extent, I don’t know what does.
But what fun is it to abide by the norm every damn season?! To that I say, let’s challenge the norm. You can find me eating pumpkin in January and saying f*ck it to the standards. I love pumpkin SO much, especially in baked goodies like muffins! And the great thing about these muffins is that if you don’t care for pumpkin, or if you don’t have any on hand, or if you just prefer to abide by seasonal flavors, then you can totally sub the pumpkin in this recipe for bananas and they’re guaranteed to be equally as tasty! Who doesn’t love banana and walnuts? Count me in for both!
These muffins are light and fluffy, packed with flavor, and have an added sweet crunch from the two ingredient caramelized walnuts. SO easy, flavorful, and one of a kind. Doesn’t get much better in my opinion! Oh, and Chad, my boyfriend, who despises pumpkin, loves these muffins… now thats a winning recipe, I’d say.
Pumpkin & Caramelized Walnut Muffins
1
servingsIngredients
- Dry Ingredients
3/4 cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
- Wet Ingredients
1/3 cup Pumpkin Purée, OR 1 large or 2 small mashed bananas
1 egg
1/3 cup Brown Sugar
1/4 cup Cane Sugar
1/4 cup Coconut Oil or Vegan Butter, melted & cooled
3 Tablespoons Almond Milk
- Caramelized Walnut Ingredients
1 Cup Walnuts, roughly chopped
4 Tbsp Brown Sugar
3 Tbsp Water
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line or grease a muffin tin – set aside.
- Begin by making the caramelized walnuts. In a pan over low heat, add water and brown sugar. Let that heat and simmer — once bubbling (a sign of caramelization), add the walnuts to the pan. Mix walnuts until they are evenly coated in the caramelized sugar. Remove from heat and let the walnuts cool.
- Next, in a large bowl, mix flour, cinnamon, salt, baking powder and baking soda. I like to sift these ingredients together to make for a finer mixture.
- In a separate bowl, mix all wet ingredients; egg, pumpkin or banana, brown sugar & cane sugar, and coconut oil or butter.
- Add your dry ingredients to the wet mixture and fold together until all ingredients are combined. Try not to over mix here, and instead gently fold to ensure a lighter, fluffier texture!
- Next, add about 3/4 of the caramelized walnuts to the batter and gently fold in until incorporated into the mixture. At this point, you may need to lightly break the walnuts apart, as the caramelized sugar hardens as it cools.
- Next, scoop muffin batter into each cup in the muffin tin, about 3/4 of the way full.
- Sprinkle the remaining caramelized walnuts over the tops of the muffins and. Bake for 25-27 minutes.
- Once the muffins are done baking, remove from the oven and let them cool for 15 – 20 minutes and enjoy!
If you made this recipe, I’d love to see it! Let me know in the comments and tag me on IG at @simply_unbeetable
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