Healthy Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Pumpkin season is upon us, so how about a moist, delicious Healthy Pumpkin Spice Muffin?! Absolutely!  I tried a few recipes and I wasn’t happy with the results, so I put together this recipe and it turned out really well.  I feel that when you find a recipe that tastes great and is made up of foods that have health benefits, well, you’re winning.

A lot of baked goods are filled with flour and refined sugar.  When I’m putting a recipe together, I try to replace these ingredients with products that are healthier. For example, white flour is highly processed which leaves the end product missing essential components like B vitamins, iron, magnesium, and vitamin E.  There is also almost no protein, or fiber left once the flour has been processed.  Some great replacements for flour are: coconut flour (works well in muffins/cakes and is gluten free), quinoa flour, oat flour (which you can easily make yourself by blending large flake oats), almond flour, buckwheat flour, etc. These alternate flours give baked goods more nutrients which is why it is good to swap out white flour.

Replacing refined sugar, on the other hand, is a different story.  It would benefit our health if we try to limit our sugar intake altogether.  Diets high in sugar can lead to high blood pressure, clogged arteries,  diabetes, and even heart failure. Sugar also quickly spikes insulin levels and has no nutritional value whatsoever.  If we replace sugar in recipes with sweeteners like maple syrup and honey, at least we get some nutritional value when we use them.  Keep in mind, even though you swap out refined sugar for a better alternative, you should also try to reduce the amount of sweetener that is added to a recipe because, overall, it’s better for you.  When you cut down the amount of sweetener in foods, not only are you making the food healthier, you actually get used it and it turns out not as bad as you might think!

Two really great sweetener swaps are maple syrup and honey.  Maple syrup has vitamins and minerals and it has a lower glycemic index than sugar, so your blood sugar levels won’t spike as quickly. It’s also known for its antioxidants and it’s anti-inflammatory properties.  So if you’re going to have a sweetener, this is definitely the way to go.

Honey also has a lower glycemic index and it contains vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, such as calcium, vitamin C, potassium, phenolic acids, zinc and flavonoids.  It also has anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties, which we all know is good for gut health.

So these Pumpkin Spice Muffins…are easy to make.  Put the wet ingredients together in a bowl, set aside.  Put the dry ingredients together in a bowl.

Put the hot water and baking soda together and then add to the wet ingredients.  Once that’s mixed in, gently mix together the dry and wet ingredients.

I really like raisins, so I added raisins to this recipe, but they are not necessary and if you’re trying to cut back on sugar content, then omit the raisins. You can also sprinkle a few pumpkin seeds on top of each muffin before baking.

These Pumpkin Spice Muffins freeze well if you have any leftovers!

Ingredients needed for Pumpkin Spice Mix.  This recipe makes 7 teaspoons so you’ll have some on hand the next time you make anything with pumpkin.  Feel free to double or triple the recipe.