Pumpkin Coffee Cake Muffins

This is just a reminder to buy your holiday travel tickets because for the first time in years I’m actually doing it in a responsible month and the prices are still nuts. Other than that, let’s hop right in!

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This Week’s Recipe

The second the weather dips below 70 degrees, I need some kind of pumpkin bread. These pumpkin coffee cake muffins are not my pumpkin bread, but their recipes are related (cousins not sisters). Veins of brown sugar and espresso run through them and they’re topped with a streusel — that you don’t have to make separately! More on that later!

It’s a little hard to see the swirls on these, but I didn’t put enough filling on each layer.

I have tried to make this recipe as user-friendly as possible: a normal batch makes six muffins with half a can of pumpkin puree. (I like the kinds from Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s. For this recipe and the pumpkin bread recipe, I found that I preferred them to Libby’s for their color and higher moisture.) They rise sky-high out of the tin because 1) we fill the cups up a lot 2) A hefty amount of leavener 3) a high oven temp that helps them spring up right when they hit the heat 4) spacing them out in the tin, which helps the hot air circulate better. And it can be easily doubled to make a dozen — and use the whole pumpkin can!

Plus! Don’t let the filling and streusel fool you, baby! The streusel is made right at the start of the recipe. We mix the sugar, flour and butter together, reserve about 1/4-cup, and then use the rest as the base for the muffin. I learned this little trick from Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen. And the filling is so simple: espresso powder, brown sugar and salt, mixed together in a bowl.

Pumpkin Coffee Cake Muffins

Makes 6 muffins

Ingredients

Muffins

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, gently melted (85 grams)

• 1/3 cup granulated sugar (71 grams)

• 1/3 cup dark or light brown sugar, lightly packed (73 grams)

• 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour (162 grams)

• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt

• 1 large egg

• 3/4 cup organic pumpkin purée (7.5 ounces from a 15-ounce can)

• 1/4 cup whole milk or plant-based alternative

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon

• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

• 1/2 teaspoon espresso powder

Espresso swirl

• 1/4 cup dark brown sugar (55 grams)

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1 teaspoon espresso powder

• Pinch salt

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Grease the top of a standard 12-cup muffin tin and line 6 of the cups, staggering them.

2. Whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.

3. Make the muffin batter. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the butter and sugar.

4. Mix the dry ingredients into the butter and sugar until the mixture is crumbly. Reserve 1/4 cup of the crumbles for the topping.

5. Add the egg and mash it into the butter and sugar with a rubber spatula, trying to break up the crumbles a bit. Whisk in the pumpkin purée, milk, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and espresso powder. Mix until combined (it’s okay if there are a few lumps).

6. For the filling, combine the dark brown sugar, espresso powder, cinnamon and salt.

7. For each muffin, fill the lined cup with a heaping tablespoon of batter, then cover that with the filling mixture, about 1 1/2 teaspoons. Repeat. Then, add a final heaping tablespoon of batter and sprinkle some reserved streusel on top.

8. Bake the muffins on the middle rack for 11 minutes, then turn the oven down to 350°F, rotate the tin, and bake for about 12 more minutes or until the muffin edges are golden brown, and the tops spring back when lightly pressed in the middle.

9. Allow the muffins to cool completely in their tin.