Hi, hello friends! I am here with my first pumpkin baked good of the fall season. Never mind that it’s not technically fall for another week…the evening lows dropped down to 60 degrees in Charlotte this week and the highs are only in the 80s so that basically feels like fall after a sweltering summer.

I decided to keep my first pumpkin recipe simple with a pumpkin spice themed spinoff of our favorite banana muffins.

PUMPKIN SPICE BANANA MUFFINS

Here’s what you need to know about these pumpkin-spice banana muffins:

• They are made with a blend of white and wheat all-purpose flour.
• They aren’t packed with sugar and the ingredients used to sweeten the muffins are unrefined sugars.
• They’re fluffy, soft and moist thanks to a blend of mashed banana, pumpkin and greek yogurt.
• They freeze well and make for a great easy breakfast, lunchbox item or snack!

PUMPKIN SPICE BANANA MUFFIN INGREDIENTS

Here’s what you need to bake these pumpkin spice banana muffins:

• All-purpose flour – I always bake with King Arthur’s unbleached all-purpose flour
• Whole wheat flour – again, I opt for King Arthur’s stone-ground whole wheat flour or their white whole wheat flour. You could also use oat flour here.
• Salt – can’t make a baked good without salt!
• Baking soda – for levening
• Pumpkin pie spice – this blend of cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg and cloves adds that pumpkin spice flavor to these muffins. You can find this blend in the spice section of your local grocery store or make your own homemade version. If you’re really in a pinch and don’t have the spice or the ingredients to make it, you can double the ground cinnamon in this recipe.
• Ground cinnamon – for that warm spice flavor!
• Overripe bananas – go with medium-sized bananas that have lots of brown spots.
• Canned pumpkin puree – make sure you’re using 100% pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling.
• Coconut oil – you can sub melted unsalted butter but I really like the coconut oil in this recipe.
• Coconut sugar – I always keep coconut sugar on hand these days when I’m baking things like muffins and quick breads. While it’s still sugar, I like it because it’s unrefined and a little more natural than traditional sugar. You can totally sub brown sugar for the coconut sugar in this recipe. No big deal at all!
• Maple syrup – love baking with maple syrup for fall-themed goodies!
• Eggs – make sure they’re at room temp!
• Vanilla extract – a must in baking recipes for flavor development.
• Plain yogurt – I used plain greek yogurt but any kind of plain yogurt would work well here. I’m sure a dairy-free yogurt would be great too if you’re trying to keep this recipe dairy-free.

TIPS AND TRICKS 

Here are a few of my favorite tips and tricks for perfectly fluffy and delicious muffins!

• The batter for these muffins is super simple to whip up. I like to use a handheld mixer or stand mixer because I find that the easiest way to mash the bananas and incorporate all of the ingredients together easily. You can totally skip the mixers all together and make the batter by hand. These muffins are forgiving!
• I like to double up with muffin tin liners and cooking spray. I line the tin and then give each liner a quick spray of cooking spray to ensure no sticking.
• Fill the muffin tins all the way up the the top. I know we’ve all been conditioned to only fill 2/3 of the way but you want to fill these up!

• You’ll start at a high oven temp of 425 degrees for the first 5 minutes and then reduce down to 350 for the final 15 minutes. I know it seems counter intuitive to bake at high oven temps but this initial high-temperature bake really helps with the big rise and doming of these muffins. No flat muffin tops here! 🙂

PUMPKIN SPICE BANANA MUFFIN RECIPE 

Here’s the recipe for these muffins. I know you’re going to love them!