If you haven’t made pumpkin muffins yet, is it even autumn?
I usually start the day with something on the healthy/lighter side – egg white omelettes, oatmeal, or a fruit smoothie – because life is full of surprises, and I never want to be too stuffed for office donuts or a spontaneous sushi lunch. But last week I woke up absolutely craving a soft, cinnamon-y pumpkin muffin – the kind that make a seasonal appearance at coffee shops, obscenely large and brimming over with a crunchy, buttery streusel topping. It is one of life’s greatest mysteries as to why the inclusion of what is essentially a crumbly butter/flour/sugar cookie, on what we all know is just an individually portioned piece of cake, makes for a socially acceptable breakfast.
Coffee and a slab of vanilla cake at 7am = unbridled hedonism! What is the world coming to?!
Coffee and an enormous slab of coffee cake with streusel = normal Tuesday. Ho hum.
All that to say that when I go for a muffin, I have no delusions about what I am engaging in. I want a decadent, sweet start to my morning, something delicious enough to make me have a rare cup of afternoon coffee just for the excuse to eat a second (I usually cut off caffeine at 11!).
What makes these muffins extra decadent? A few things. 1) They’re made with oil instead of butter – while butter is great for adding flavor, it can actually lead to dry, crumbly muffins that don’t keep very well. This is because the water in butter largely evaporates during baking, sapping your baked goods of desperately needed moisture. Oil, on the other hand, is pure fat and doesn’t evaporate, at least not at the temperatures your oven is limited to. (I did use butter in the walnut streusel because a light and crumbly texture is what defines a good streusel, and the butter is the dominant flavor component). 2) I included some juicy, sweet Medjool dates in the muffin batter for little morsels of caramel-ly sweetness. 3) Instead of the cinnamon-forward spices traditionally used in pumpkin baked goods, I used a cardamom-heavy chai spice mix. and finally 4) To really gild the lily, I drizzled the muffins with a shiny maple syrup glaze for extra autumn feels.
Because there are several separate components to these pumpkin beauties, I won’t promise they’re something you can whip up on a busy weekday. But because they keep (and freeze) so well, you can make a batch on a weeknight or weekend and enjoy them whenever your muffin craving strikes. You can keep them in an airtight container for up to 4 days at room temperature, or a week in the fridge, or up to 3 months in the freezer.
Chai Spice Pumpkin Date Muffins with Walnut Streusel and Maple Glaze
Ingredients
- 70g (1/2 cup) all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup quick oats
- 2 tablespoons light brown sugar, packed
- pinch salt
- 2 tablespoon chopped walnuts
- 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
- (1/3 cup packed) chopped Medjool dates
- 220g (1 and 3/4 cups) + 1 Tbsp. all-purpose flour, divided
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 65g (1/3 cup) granulated sugar
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 2 large eggs, beaten, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup whole milk (room temperature) For Streusel & Glaze
- 70g (1/2 cup) all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup quick oats
- 2 tablespoons light brown sugar, packed
- pinch salt
- 2 tablespoon chopped walnuts
- 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
- 60g (1/2 cup) sifted confectioner’s sugar
- 1/2 Tbsp maple syrup
- milk to thin (if necessary)
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350F and line a standard-size muffin tin with paper liners (or grease wells with baking spray).
- Make the streusel. Combine the 70g flour, oats, light brown sugar, pinch salt, walnuts and melted butter in a small bowl and mix with hands until crumbly. Set aside.
- Toss the chopped dates with the Tbsp of flour to coat (this will keep dates from sinking to the bottom of muffins). Set aside.
- Sift remaining 220g flour, baking soda, and spices together into a large mixing bowl.
- In a separate medium bowl, whisk oil, granulated sugar, pumpkin, eggs, and milk until combined.
- Pour liquid ingredients into dry, fold with a spatula until just combined, being carefuly not to overmix. Fold in floured dates.
- Divide mixture evenly between 12 muffin pan wells. Top each muffin generously with the streusel mixture, pressing gently to ensure it sticks during baking.
- Bake muffins for 20-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean or with only a few crumbs.
- Let muffins cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
- While muffins are cooling, make the maple syrup glaze. Whisk the sifted confectioner’s sugar with the maple syrup until fully combined, carefully adding 1 tsp of milk at a time to thin if glaze is too thick. It should be the consistency of heavy cream.
- Drizzle glaze over cooled muffins and enjoy the sugar rush.
