Pumpkin Streusel Muffins (Vegan + Gluten-free)

Happy Thanksgiving!

October of this year is a special month because there is a Friday the 13th, so naturally it adds to the creepiness or excitement. My weekend has been filled with watching all the Friday the 13th movies and there just as good as I remembered.  I didn’t realize how much I loved Fall, October, or Halloween inspired ‘things’ until 3 people pointed it out to me.  Isn’t that funny, when you think you know yourself so well until someone close to you points something out about you, and at first you may be like, “no thats not me, you’re wrong” but when you really think about it, it comes to a shocking surprise that they are probably right. Self perception vs. peer perception.  So the moral of the story is to find your inner festive Fall or Halloween, whether that’s watching Jason Voorhees or dancing to Thriller by Michael Jackson, and these pumpkin streusel muffins will make the perfect accompaniment.

I have been hoarding this recipe for 2 years now. Every year I told myself this is the year to share my amazing pumpkin streusel muffins, but by the time I got around to it, the time of year already passed and they were too good to post off-season.  You can’t post pumpkin spice muffins in the spring or summer, duh.

Well this is the year I can finally share with you the BEST pumpkin muffins you will ever eat. They are light, fluffy, oh so flavourful and just divine.  Each bite is a bite of Fall and they go perfect with some hot apple cider or your morning/afternoon coffee.

The good thing about waiting so long to post this recipe is that you now have lots of options, for example, the streusel is done two-ways, one made with oats and the other is made with extra nuts.

The oat crumble is pictured below:

The nut crumble is pictured below:

Originally this recipe was supposed to be made with spelt flour, but over the years I adapted them to be gluten-free and in my opinion they taste better then the ones with gluten-filled flour, so I left both options depending on what flour you have available.

Lastly, this recipe is so versatile that you can even turn it into a pumpkin streusel loaf instead of muffins and it still turns out amazing. Be sure to check out the notes and tips below to find out the perfect way to get your pumpkin streusel on.

Before we begin, I want to let you know what the hell streusel is.  I grew up believing streusel was like a danish type dessert and never thought I liked it.  However, streusel is actually just a crumbly topping for cakes or pastries made from fat, flour, sugar, and cinnamon. My version of streusel is of course healthified; using healthy fats from coconut oil, brown rice flour, maple sugar to sweeten and of course cinnamon.

5 from 1 vote

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Pumpkin Streusel Muffins (Vegan + Gluten-Free)

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 50 minutes

Servings 12 muffins

Ingredients

Muffin Base

• 3/4 cup chickpea flour*
• 3/4 cup brown rice flour*
• 1/4 cup tapioca starch/flour*
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp ginger
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp-tbsp cinnamon**
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• pinch salt
• 1 cup canned pumpkin***
• 2/3 cup maple syrup
• 1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1/4 cup applesauce
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Streusel option 1

• 3 tbsp pecans chopped or broken into bits with your hands
• 2 tbsp coconut oil solid state
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 3 tbsp brown rice flour or all-purpose flour if not gluten free
• 3 tbsp oats

Streusel option 2 (oat-free)

• 3 tbsp pecans chopped or broken into bits with your hands
• 2 tbsp coconut oil solid state
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 3 tbsp brown rice flour or all-purpose flour if not gluten free
• 2 tbsp whole almonds roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp sliced almonds

Glaze

• 1 tbsp coconut milk
• 1/2 cup icing sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. For the muffin base, combine the dry ingredients (flours, baking powder, baking soda, and spices) in one bowl and all the wet ingredients (pumpkin, maple syrup, almond milk, applesauce and vanilla) in another bowl and stir both until combined.

3. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients slowly while stirring. Do NOT over mix! The muffins/loaf will fall flat if you over mix, so mix until JUST combined.

4. For the streusel, throw all the ingredients in a small bowl or mug and mix with a fork (try not to eat the entire thing before putting it on your treats because its THAT GOOD). Also, make sure the coconut oil is notin a liquid state, the solid state helps bunch the mixture together and makes it all stick. You have two options for the streusel, both are equally amazing it just depends what you have on hand. Sometimes it's hard to find certified gluten-free oats so that is why I created the oatless option.

5. Pour the muffin batter in a muffin or loaf pan, sprinkle the crumble on top with your hands and push it in a little, so later when eaten, the crumble doesn't break off as easy.

6. Cook the muffins for 30 minutes or if you are making a loaf cook for 45-50 minutes.

7. Put a toothpick in the muffins/loaf and when it comes out clean take them out of the oven.

8. Let them sit in the pans for about 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

9. In the meantime, make your glaze by combining the ingredients in a bowl and pour it in a small ziplock bag.

10. Once the muffins are completely cooled on the cooling rack, cut a VERY small hole in one corner of the ziplock bag (it will mimic an icing bag) and drizzle the top of the muffins or loaf with the icing.

Recipe Notes

*The chickpea, brown rice and tapioca flour are great for a gluten free version.  The tapioca starch is what gives them a light fluffy texture and the chickpea and brown rice flour brings depth so they have a more muffin texture over a cupcake texture.  However, you can replace all three of the flours for 1 3/4 c all-purpose or spelt flour if you are not gluten free.
**How you spice the muffins/loaf is totally up to you, I used 1 tsp of each spice, except for the cinnamon, I added 1 tbsp because I LOVE cinnamon and it wasn't overpowering to me.  Also, allspice is optional, but I would really recommend using it.  Be careful because a lot of allspice is not true allspice.  Allspice comes from a tree, however, some stores label spices as 'allspice' when in reality its just a combination of nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger.  Allspice tastes like cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves but it is its OWN spice and really takes the flavour to the next level.
***I found organic pumpkin puree in a box and it was too runny, so make sure to buy canned pumpkin as is thicker and works better.

DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE?

If you try this recipe I would love to see it and share it! Tag me on IG @thegreenerer, using the hashtag #thegreenerer