These Healthy Whole Wheat Pumpkin Muffins are made with whole wheat pastry flour which keeps them light and fluffy while still delivering whole grain goodness. Pumpkin spice and shredded apple add natural sweetness and flavor. Low in sugar, packed with fiber and plenty of Omega-3s, you can feel good having one of these muffins for breakfast!
Muffins are always calling my name. Maybe it’s the little wrappers they come packaged in. This fall season it’s been pumpkin muffins and golden milk tea. EVERYDAY.
Thank goodness these muffins are whole grain.
✔️Check off 1 serving of whole grains for the day!
I LOVE baking muffins in the taller parchment paper liners.
- They make your muffins taller.
- They keep the batter from overflowing onto the muffin pan.
- They look kinda fancy!
I only had one left, but you can see in the photo below, it’s much taller than the ones baked in the regular muffin liners.
How to Make Healthy Pumpkin Muffins
These whole wheat pumpkin muffins are simple to make.
Just 4 easy steps.
To keep these muffins within a healthy category:
- coconut sugar and apple sweetens them
- whole wheat pastry flour offers whole grain nutrition
- a healthy dose of ground flax seeds and walnut offer Omega-3s
- olive oil replaces butter as a healthy fat, rich in plant polyphenols
- at about 200 calories, it’s a pretty low calorie pumpkin muffin
Is coconut sugar better than sugar?
So here’s the deal, coconut sugar is still sugar. Coconut sugar has some vitamins and minerals that regular sugar doesn’t, but it’s still sugar.
Coconut sugar can be swapped 1:1 with regular cane sugar. So use what you have!
What is the difference between whole wheat pastry flour and whole wheat flour?
Whole Wheat Pastry Flour is a whole grain flour made from soft white wheat. It has a lower protein which produces light baked goods. You might have tried baking with regular whole wheat flour and know how heavy it can get!
We like our whole grain flours, but not the heaviness. Whole grains are nutrient dense because the parts of the plant with all the benefits – the wheat germ and bran – are still intact in the flour. White flour removes all of that goodness.
You could substitute regular whole wheat flour for the whole wheat pastry flour, BUT I’d mix it half with all-purpose to keep it from being too heavy.
Really the awesomeness of this whole wheat muffin is the light texture that whole wheat pastry flour provides.
I use regular whole wheat flour in these Morning Glory Muffins – they’re a much heartier muffin and can handle it.
These Healthy Pumpkin Muffins are low in sugar, have lots of fiber and are topped with plenty of walnuts for a boost of Omega-3s. Whole wheat pastry flour keeps them super light and fluffy. Shredded apple adds extra fiber and natural sweetness.
- 1½ cups whole wheat pastry flour
- ½ cup almond flour
- ¼ cup ground flaxseeds
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup organic pumpkin puree
- ⅔ cup coconut palm sugar (you can use cane sugar)
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin spice extract (you can substitute vanilla extract)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup shredded apple
- 1/3 cup walnuts, finely chopped (to top muffins)
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Preheat your oven to 350ºF. Line muffin tins with paper liners.
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In a large bowl, whisk together the whole-wheat flour, almond flour, ground flax seed, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon and salt.
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In another large bowl, whisk together the sugar, olive oil, pumpkin and extract. Whisk in the eggs one at a time. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ones until just combined.
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Gently fold the shredded apple into the muffin batter. Divide the batter evenly between the muffin cups. Top with crushed walnuts.
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Bake for 30 minutes for standard muffins, or until a cake tester or small wooden skewer inserted into muffins comes out clean.
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The muffins are great! Thank you for the recipe. I used ground chia seeds instead of flax, because I didn’t have any. Also, I added hemp hearts, pumpkin seeds and dried fruits to my muffins. I love these nutritionally dense and moist muffins!
Thank you for trying these pumpkin muffins Sarah! Love your additions/tweaks. I am happy these turned out so well for you!