The first time I made these muffins, I was worried because they contain molasses and I thought I didn’t like molasses. Wrong! I love molasses in these delectable pumpkin muffins. It gives them a dark richness and amplifies the spiciness of the cinnamon and nutmeg. The second time I made them, I was confident that they would be a hit with my two guests, who are not used to either vegan or low-fat baking, and this time I was right. They loved them!
The recipe is Mary McDougall’s, and it comes from The Starch Solution by Dr. John and Mary McDougall. I’m thrilled that the McDougalls gave me permission to share the recipe with you because this will be my go-to recipe for pumpkin muffins from now on. They’re sweet and rich and perfect for celebrations and special occasions. But be careful–they’re not sugar free and they are addictive.
Be sure to check out Dr. McDougall’s website and like his Facebook page for more great recipes. Find out more about his program from The Starch Solution, available on Amazon in both hardcover and Kindle editions.
Mary McDougall’s Pumpkin Walnut Muffins
Mary’s Note: Seeing the autumn colors beginning to emerge reminded us of this grandchild-approved recipe. We bake these mildly-spiced muffins in standard-size silicone muffin cups, available online and at most cookware stores. After cooling for about 10 minutes, the muffins pop right out of the cups; no liners needed. Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons Ener-G Egg Replacer
- 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
- 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
- 1/4 cup raisins
- 1 cup canned pumpkin
- 1/2 cup Sunsweet Lighter Bake (see note below)
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 1/4 cup soy milk (see note below)
Instructions
- Have ready a 12-cup standard-size silicone muffin pan or line a muffin pan with liners. (Susan’s note: I used 15 silicone muffin liners.)
- Preheat the oven to 375ºF with a rack in the lower third of the oven. Whisk the Egg Replacer with 1/4 cup warm water in a small bowl until frothy, then set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the whole wheat and all-purpose flours, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg, baking powder, and salt. Stir in the walnuts and raisins.
- In a separate bowl, stir together the pumpkin, Lighter Bake (or apple sauce), molasses, and soy milk until no lumps remain. Add the reserved Egg Replacer. Stir this mixture into the flour mixture just until combined.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups and bake for 30 minutes, or until they are golden and a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set the pan on a rack to cool completely before removing the muffins from the pans.
Susan’s Notes
Since Lighter Bake is not available in my area, I used natural apple sauce, which is less sweet but still resulted in delicious muffins.
If you’d like to make them without the walnuts, you can subtract about 25 calories and 2.5 grams of fat per muffin. You can also substitute any non-dairy milk for the soy milk.
Preparation time: 20 minute(s) | Cooking time: 30 minute(s)
Number of servings (yield): 12-15 muffins
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition (1/15th of recipe, using apple sauce): 142 calories, 25 calories from fat, 3g total fat, 0mg cholesterol, 166.3mg sodium, 215.1mg potassium, 27.8g carbohydrates, 2.3g fiber, 12.8g sugar, 2.8g protein, 4.1 points. (Nutritional data is courtesy of this website; any mistakes are mine!–SV)
From The Starch Solution by Dr. John A. McDougall and Mary McDougall. Republished with permission.
Check back later this week for a ridiculously easy way to use the pumpkin left over from this recipe, part of my “Weekend Quickies” series of quick and easy recipes.
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{ 35 comments… read them below or add one }
Mary is a TERRIFIC cook! (the original book does not include all the ‘stats’ and ‘numbers’ cuz’ they want you to stop thinking like that and just ENJOY the food that is healthy and good for you). This recipe looks delicious. I look forward to trying it. Thanks for the great photos!
Do you have a suggestion for subbing something in place of molasses?
You can use any liquid sweetener, like agave or maple syrup. If you don’t want the sugar, I suspect that you could use additional applesauce, but I’ve never tried that.
Susan,
I do not have any ener-g egg replacer. We do use eggs at home. I know you do not, but how many eggs would sub for the amount of replacer in this recipe.
I believe that the amount of egg replacer and water are about the same volume as one egg.
Do you think Gluten Free flour would work in this?
I think you would have good results with one of the gluten-free baking mixes that combines bean and grain flours with some thickeners, like tapioca and xanthan gum. If you have a good mix that you like, you can use that.
I have found that a mixture of ground flax and ground chia (mixed with a little water to “proof”) makes everything moist so you don’t need fat in baked goods.. I use about a tablespoon of the 1:1 mixture with 1/4 c water for every cup and a half to two cups of flour. Seriously, I do not miss the fat anymore.
These look absolutely delicious. I think I’ll make a batch as soon as I get home.
can you substitute flax egg instead of the Ener-G Egg Replacer?
Those look good! I wish I could buy canned pumpkin where I live. But hey – it’s fall and I can cook as much pumpkin and puree it as I want right now!
They are delicious and healthy enough for my breakfast!
Your muffins look scrumptious, Susan. I am a muffin and cupcake freak but never tried pumkin muffin before. Definitely going to give this one a go but will make a few changes. Hope they turn out as good as yours. I don’t use egg replacer as I find it is quite unnecessary most of the time. My food always turns out worse on the odd occasions I did use it so now I have decided to leave it out.
those look amaaaaazing!
These are wonderful and my daughter loved them. I didn’t have molasses so used Golden Syrup. I didn’t have an egg nor any flax/chia substitutes but they worked out fine, great recipe.
Hi there,
Can I sub equal amount of flax meal for the Ener-g? Thanks!
I love molasses–when well-mixed with other stuff. I think as far as healthy cookbooks go, the McDougalls’ recipes sound the best
My family, vegans and all-tarians, loved these muffins! Used applesauce and cranberries instead of raisins, they were plenty sweet-wonderful way to celebrate Fall. Thank you, I am devoted to your website.
I don’t have any all purpose purpose flour..just whole wheat pastry flour and whole wheat flour. Do you think i could just use all ww pastry flour?
made these this afternoon and just tasted one – very good. The texture wasn’t exactly like a “regular” muffin, but I thought the taste was delicious. I made the recipe exactly as written, including the egg replacement. I cooked down one apple to substitute for the LighterBake. My oven runs a bit hot so I baked them for less than the recipe stated. Really, I could gobble down another one without trouble (but I won’t!).
I will feed them to my staff tomorrow and see what the comments are….
Very much in the throes of pumpkin season, I made these a couple of days ago and they are simply yummy!
I used a convoluted mixture of whole white wheat, pulverized old-fashioned oatmeal, and cornstarch for my flours (as they were all I had) and, still, with those substitutions, they turned out great. (I’d be willing to share those proportions; I just don’t have them in front of me as I type this.)
After a bit of exercise, one or two will most certainly be going down with some hot chai on this crisp autumn morning.
Thank you very much for sharing, Susan!
…mmmhhhh…looks great…
…nice blog, I like it…
have a good time, vegan l♥ve&peace, miss viwi
Made these fabulous muffins this past week as an after school/work snack for my family and they devoured them! I made ours gluten-free by using 1 cup sorghum flour, 1/4 cup brown rice flour, 1/4 cup gluten-free oat flour, and 1/4 cup almond flour. I also added 1/2 tsp xanthan gum. Consistency and flavor was just right.
I love the taste of molasses in breads, muffins and cookies, so I left that alone. But I wanted to replace the brown sugar so I added 8 medjool dates with the applesauce, molasses and soy milk in my vitamix and blended until smooth, then stirred in the canned pumpkin and added to all the dry ingredients. I was very excited that it worked so well!
Thank you so much Susan for sharing this recipe, it is definitely going to be a holiday favorite in our house.
Since I’m trying to follow the Esselstyn diet, I can’t seem to be able to use any all-purpose flour, only whole wheat. Think these would turn out similarly using strictly whole wheat flour, or a partial whole wheat and whole wheat pastry flour?
Sher, can you use all whole wheat pastry flour or white whole wheat? I think either would work instead of the all-purpose. They will just be a touch heavier, but still tasty.
I made this with a mixture of whole wheat flour and whole wheat pastry flour and they turned out very tasty. My density check may be off as I often bake with whole wheat flours, but they were not terribly dense or heavy, they were heavenly!
I have this book and saw this recipe, but your picture moved me into motion! What a great muffin this is! I will make these again and again, thank you so much for the inspiration!
These are good, but I baked mine in a regular muffin tin for 25mn and it was too much, so next time I’ll do 20mn. Maybe in silicone, the muffins take the full 30mn?
Probably so. Metal conducts heat more effectively than silicone, or at least that’s how it seems to me. My silicone baking always takes longer than in metal.
Hi Susan,
These muffins look beautiful. I’m always so delighted and amazed with your photo art.
My question is, would a flax egg be okay for these? I remember you mentioned in previous recipe tips that the Ener-G has a chalk-like taste and so I’ve never wanted to try it. Is there a benefit using the Ener-G in this particular recipe?
Thank,
Laina
Did I say that about EnerG? Wow, I don’t remember that! In baked goods it doesn’t taste chalky at all. I’m sure you could use the flax egg, though the results maybe a little heavier.
Thanks so much for your kind words about the photos! I’ve been working hard at improving my photography, so it means a lot to me to hear that.
Could this be baked in a loaf pan instead? Same temp but longer cooking time? Would the batter be enough for two loaf pans? Or one loaf and some spare muffins?
I would say one loaf and possibly some spare muffins, depending on the size of your pan. It will probably take at least twice as long to cook, so test with a toothpick to make sure it’s done in the middle. You can use my Pumpkin Spice Bread recipe as a guide:
http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2006/12/pumpkin-spice-bread.html
Thanks. My dad doesn’t want us to spend money on Christmas gifts, so I think we’re gonna make him some FFV snacks instead.
I love that book! I have to say I’ve not made anything with the sunsweet becasuse I can’t find it and shipping seems to be a lot since I don’t bake much. I appreciate your note!