Coconut Flour Pumpkin Muffins

I have my aunt to thank for this recipe, which I asked for when she dropped of these coconut flour pumpkin muffins a few years ago.  I think she told me where she got the recipe, but it has totally slipped my mind, so I may not be able to give proper credit where it is due.

Over the years, I have tweaked this muffin recipe a few times, as my need or desire for low carb treats has ebbed and flowed.  I find that when I fail to pay attention to what I eat on a daily basis, I tend to stray a bit, and consequently my waist line seems to expand.  What a coincidence!

But when it’s time to get back into shape or back on track with my eating habits, this is one of the recipes that I return to, because it allows me to have a snack in the middle of the day, or maybe a little dessert after dinner without wrecking my caloric or carb intake.

In some ways, this recipe is very similar to my Coconut Flour Banana Muffins, with the emphasis on coconut flour as the base, and a total exclusion of gluten or wheat.  Again, for anyone keeping score at home, I am not totally wheat free, but rather have made a decision to vastly reduce the amount of wheat we eat at home, especially the modern wheat, which I am convinced is a much different plant than what we called wheat one or two hundred years ago.

And of course, since I’m a sucker for coconut, I couldn’t help but fall in love with any recipe that includes both coconut flour as well as coconut oil!  Not only do I love the taste of almost all things coconut, but it’s such a healthy food, both in flour form as well as oil.  I almost feel as it is my duty to try and get as much coconut into as many recipes as possible!

As I looked through the rest of the ingredients in this recipe, there really isn’t too much to object to at all, which allows me to get back into the flow of my day with few worries instead of spending time on the internet looking up health insurance quotes because I’m falling out of shape!

Growing up, I was not a huge fan of pumpkin in any form, not even a cake.  But it’s a different story now.  I’m not saying that I’m ready to gobble down a can of pureed pumpkin all on its own, but finding ways to get some pumpkin into my diet seems like a noble goal, one more way to make sure my family is exposed to as many nutrient dense foods as possible.

My biggest concern about the original recipe was that it called for 1/2 cup of maple syrup.  It seems to me that if I am trying to find muffin recipes that don’t have any flour in them, I ought to also be looking for recipes that have as little sugar as possible, or maybe even a sugar substitute.  I get that gluten-free is a great buzzword, but if I’m still making pumpkin muffins that shoot my glycemic load through the roof, I don’t see how that’s a real win for the home team.

What I’ve settled for is using an erythritol-monk fruit mix made by Lakanto, which reportedly has zero, or close to zero, calories and no effect upon your blood sugar glycemic levels after consumption.  So instead of some of those “zero sugar” recipes that you might find that use honey, molasses or agave, this recipe is truly no sugar.

It also brings the carbohydrate count way down for these coconut flour pumpkin muffins because the syrup or sugar in the original recipe has been eliminated. Am I worried about eating too much erythritol? No, not really. It’s not the same as those artificial sweeteners that I’m so worried about (perhaps needlessly), and there are actually some health benefits! But remember, everything in moderation, don’t get carried away and eat tons of sweets made with erythritol or other low caloric sugar alchohols!

At the same time that I was worried about reducing the carb count, and sugar intake, from these muffins, I wanted to increase the amount of goodness, use this snack food as a vehicle for some real nutrient density!  So instead of using part of a can of pumpkin puree, I decided to find a way to use the whole 15 oz can.  Really, what am I going to do with leftover pumpkin puree?  And it’s so good for you!

And for those of you who are new to baking with coconut flour, and skipping all purpose white flour, prepare yourself, the texture of these coconut flour pumpkin muffins will be closer to a bread pudding than a traditional muffin you might find at Panera or Starbucks!

Ingredients:

• 1 15 oz can of pumpkin puree
• 6 eggs
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 3/4 cup coconut flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1 tablespoon vanilla paste
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/3 cup Lakanto monk fruit sweetener

Directions:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees
2. Prepare a muffin pan with 12 liners and cooking spray
3. Measure out all of your dry ingredients into a mixing bowl
4. In a second mixing bowl, measure out all of your wet ingredients
5. Combine the two bowls and mix well until your batter is smooth
6. If you are using a Vitamix, like I sometimes do, then you can simply measure everything straight into your container and fire it up to combine all of the ingredients.
7. Measure out roughly even amounts of batter into each of the muffin papers, and place into the oven
8. Cook for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean

Coconut Flour Pumpkin Muffins Nutrition

I know it seems that I spend more time making excuses for the possible inaccuracies found in these nutritional panels that I actually spend putting them together, but it’s not true!  Well, maybe…

But I just want everyone to be clear on how all nutrition panels should be used as estimates and not exact statements of fact, because there are so many assumptions that are made when putting together a nutrition panel like this.

For instance, how am I supposed to list my zero calorie sweetener? These types of panels are not really well built for those kinds of inputs. Sugar alcohols have a few grams of “sugar”, but not the type these panels are really looking for, because sugar alcohols are digested differently than straight sugars. So I made the decision not to include the monk fruit erythritol blend I used, because the nutrition info on that packaging states that there are zero carbs!