Brown Butter Pumpkin Orange Muffins with Orange Glaze
Gorgeous brown butter pumpkin orange muffins with a luscious orange glaze. These healthy pumpkin orange muffins are naturally sweetened with fresh orange juice and a touch of honey and have plenty of cozy pumpkin spices. Option to add chocolate chips for an even more decadent treat!
Ingredients
- For the wet ingredients:
- 1/3 cup butter*
- 1 heaping cup pumpkin puree
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup honey (or sub pure maple syrup)
- 1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
- Zest from 2 large oranges
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- For the dry ingredients:
- 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour or white whole wheat flour**
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon allspice
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Optional:
- ½ cup dark chocolate chips (or your favorite chocolate chips)
- For the glaze:
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons orange juice, plus more to thin if necessary
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with muffin liners and spray the inside of the liners with nonstick cooking spray to prevent sticking.
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*Brown your butter. Add butter to a saucepan and place over medium high heat. The butter will begin to crackle and then after a couple minutes, foam. Make sure you whisk constantly during this process. After a couple of minutes, the butter will begin to brown and turn a nice golden amber color on the bottom of the saucepan. Continue to whisk and remove from heat as soon as the butter begins to brown and give off a nutty aroma. Immediately transfer the butter to a medium bowl to prevent burning. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes or until cool enough to touch.
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In a large bowl, add the pumpkin puree, eggs, honey, orange juice and zest, and vanilla extract. Whisk together until smooth.
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In a separate large bowl, whisk together the whole wheat pastry flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Stir in the cooled brown butter and mix until batter is just combined. Divide batter evenly between the muffin liners.
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Bake for 23-27 minutes or until the tester comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Allow muffins to cool in the pan for a few minutes, then remove and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
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To make the orange glaze: in a small bowl, mix together the powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon orange juice and zest smooth. Add more orange juice to thin glaze if necessary, but you do want it thick. Spoon about ½ tablespoon glaze onto each muffin or dip muffin tops into the bowl. Place on a wire rack to set the glaze. Enjoy! Makes 12 muffins.
Recipe Notes
**If you don’t have whole wheat pastry flour or white whole wheat flour, you can mix 1 cup whole wheat flour and 1 cup all purpose flour together.
To make dairy free: feel free to use coconut oil, light extra virgin olive oil or vegan butter instead of butter.
To make gluten free: I think a 1:1 gf all purpose flour would work well in these muffins. You may need to add a splash of milk to the batter if it feels stiff, as gluten free flours can sometimes be a little more dry. I also think that chickpea flour would work well or potentially oat flour.
To make pumpkin chocolate chip muffins: Feel free to mix in ½ cup your favorite chocolate chips into the batter.