Pumpkin Orange Spice Mini-Muffins - NEW RECIPE (Sugar Free & Gluten Free)

To kick off fall in the most "fall-like" way that I know...translated into PUMPKIN. It's a recipe I debuted a couple of years ago for Pumpkin Orange Spice Mini-Muffins. These are moist little bite-sized gems packed with pumpkin and spice with some walnuts tossed in "just because" but I certainly wouldn't object if there were chocolate chips tossed in instead. These muffins are low carb, sugar free, and gluten free. I intentionally didn't make them too sweet, so if you prefer your muffins sweeter, feel free to bump up the sweetener a bit.

I tend to prefer my muffins naked as in, "not frosted"...but if you prefer yours drizzled, glazed or frosted, I have a yummy Orange Cream Cheese Frosting/Glaze that you will love. Simply add more liquid (cream) to it if you want a glaze that inches it's way over the top and then runs down the sides; or add less liquid if you prefer a thick and fluffy frosting that sits proudly on top of your muffins. When creating this recipe, one of my goals was that it must use the entire can of pumpkin. No more little portions of unused pumpkin taking up space in my fridge any more. Besides, more pumpkin equals a more pumpkiny flavor as well as a moister muffin (win/win). These little muffins seemed to get better with each passing day. I hope you enjoy these as much as my family and I do. I snapped some photos below and included the recipe. Enjoy!

Using a 1-tablespoon scoop makes filling the muffin cups a breeze and keeps it neat

Fresh from the oven

Pumpkin Orange Spice Mini-Muffins
Makes 5 dozen

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups blanched almond flour

1 cup ground golden flax seeds

2 Tablespoons coconut flour

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1 cup Swerve Sweetener (or preferred granular sweetener)

3 large eggs

1/4 cup extra light olive oil or melted coconut oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon orange extract

1 teaspoon black strap molasses, optional
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 (15-ounce) can pure pumpkin
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Oil to grease muffin tins

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease nonstick mini muffin pans with oil and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together almond flour, ground flax, coconut flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sweetener.

In a separate medium bowl, beat together eggs, oil, vanilla extract, orange extract, molasses, buttermilk and pumpkin. Add wet mixture to dry mixture and mix until combined. Fold in walnuts. Scoop batter into prepared muffin cups using a 1-tablespoon sized scoop, filling almost to the top. Bake for 20-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let sit for about 5 minutes in pan, then remove and cool on wire rack. If desired, muffins can be frosted or drizzled with optional Orange Cream Cheese Glaze/Frosting.

*Notes:  1) If a sweeter muffin is desired, add additional sweetener (small amounts of liquid stevia can be added to the batter a little at a time, to fine tune sweetness); 2) If ground flax seeds are not available, whole flax seeds can easily be ground in a small food processor or coffee grinder (measure after grinding).