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Jump to RecipePumpkin muffins feel like an essential autumn recipe to have in your back pocket. They’re warm and comforting and make for a great breakfast or snack. And they’re basically a health food since they include pumpkin purée! I’m kidding – this is absolutely not a health focused recipe. These are fun muffins, not health muffins. They’re just meant to make you happy, and that’s fine. I mean they’ve got both brown butter and salted caramel. Plus all the warming spices you’d expect from a pumpkin muffin. So yeah, they’re delightful. I still ate them for breakfast, for the record. Don’t worry – I won’t tell anyone if you follow suit.
Fresh vs canned pumpkin
Look, you’re welcome to roast and purée your own pumpkin if you want to. I’ve done it in the past, and it’s lovely. But it is by no means a necessity. In fact, I used canned pumpkin purée for this recipe. I wanted it to be easy and stress free. And frankly, canned pumpkin purée is great. It may even taste better, depending on what type of pumpkin you use. For instance, if you roast your standard variety grocery store pumpkin (y’know, the kind you’d use for a jack-o-lantern), it probably won’t taste great. Those pumpkins are intended for looks, not flavor. You’d have better luck with a pumpkin pie or heirloom pumpkin.
But again! Canned is 100% fine here.
Store bought vs homemade caramel sauce
I was really going for ease with this recipe, so I used store bought caramel. It was a fleur de sel caramel sauce that I got from Trader Joe’s, and it worked great. Would homemade be better? Probably. I have a miso caramel sauce recipe that would honestly be incredible in these muffins. But this recipe isn’t about doing hard things, so follow your heart.
How to brown butter
First thing’s first, what even is brown butter? Brown butter is butter that’s been cooked until the milk solids turn brown and caramelize. It’s a major flavor enhancer, as it makes the butter taste richer and almost nutty. I think it’s swell, and it goes really well with the cozy fall flavors in these muffins.
So how do you do it? To brown butter, simply cook it over medium heat in a small saucepan until it becomes amber in color. You’ll want to stir it frequently in order to avoid burning it. Once the butter melts, it’ll start to foam up a bit. Keep stirring and keep a watchful eye on it, as it can easily go from brown to burnt. Then remove it from heat and set it to the side.
A note on measuring flour
The best way to bake is to weigh your ingredients. But if you don’t want to or don’t have a kitchen scale, it’ll be alright. Just make sure that when you measure out your flour you don’t scoop it directly into a measuring cup. Instead, spoon it into the cup. When the cup is full, level it with a knife and you’re good to go. The reason for this is that flour is fine so it’s easy to add too much by scooping, since it’ll be more tightly packed.
How to store these pumpkin muffins
If you’re not eating these brown butter salted caramel pumpkin muffins immediately, they’ll keep for a few days in an airtight container at room temperature. You can also store them in an airtight container in the fridge for about a week, or in in the freezer for about 3 months.
Easy Brown Butter Salted Caramel Pumpkin Muffins
Ingredients
- 4 oz Butter
- 2 cups All purpose flour 240g
- 2 tsp Baking powder 9g
- 1/2 tsp Baking soda 3g
- 1 cup Light brown sugar 213g
- 2 Large eggs
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract 4g
- 1 cup Pumpkin purée 250g
- 2 tsp Ground cinnamon 5g
- 1 tsp Ground ginger 2g
- 1/4 tsp Nutmeg 1g
- 1/2 tsp Salt 7g
- 12 tsp Salted caramel sauce
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350° Fahrenheit and add liners to your muffin tin.
- Brown your butter. To do this, add 4oz butter to a small saucepan and cook on medium heat, stirring frequently. Let it melt and cook for a few minutes, or until it reaches a deep amber hue. You’ll see it slowly start to brown throughout this process. When it's done, remove it from heat and set it aside to cool to room temperature.
- While the brown butter cools, add flour, baking powder, and baking soda to a separate medium sized bowl and whisk to combine. Then set to the size.
- Pour the brown butter into a large bowl along with 1 cup light brown sugar. Mix to combine, then add 2 eggs, 1 cup pumpkin purée, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 2 tsp ground cinnamon, 1 tsp ground ginger, 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg, and 1/2 tsp salt. Mix once more.
- Now add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and whisk to combine.
- Fill each muffin indentation halfway with batter. Then add 1 tsp salted caramel sauce to each, followed by more batter until they're 3/4 of the way full.
- Bake for 19-22 minutes, or until you can stick a toothpick into the center of a muffin and pull it out cleanly. Let cool for a few minutes, then enjoy!
So that’s it. Fairly simple, eh? I didn’t even use my stand mixer because it just felt easier to do it by hand. You can feel free to take either route.
If you make these brown butter salted caramel pumpkin muffins, I hope you love them! Don’t forget to let me know what you think in the comments or on Instagram. Bonus points if you tag me in a picture! It truly makes my day when I get to hear from you.
Looking for more fall bakes? Try my gingerbread bundtlettes with cranberry cream cheese glaze or my pumpkin pie with Biscoff crust and mascarpone whipped cream! Or if you’re more in the mood for apple, my miso caramel Dutch apple pie is to die for, as is my apple butter burnt basque cheesecake.
