On a cool fall day, nothing is better than a pumpkin muffin with a cup of coffee or hot apple cider. These high altitude pumpkin pecan muffins are quick and easy to make, moist and fluffy, full of warm fall spices and nutty pecans.
You might also love these high altitude recipes for pumpkin crumb coffee cake, pumpkin pecan waffles, and no churn bourbon pumpkin ice cream.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
High Altitude Tested. Every mountain baker needs a great high altitude pumpkin muffin recipe, and you’ll love how tall these muffins rise with big fluffy muffin tops.
Easy to Make. Just mix up the batter with a bowl and spoon, and the muffins are ready to bake.
Versatile Recipe. If you prefer walnuts, feel free to sub walnuts for the pecans. You could add a handful of chocolate chips, too, for pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. Or add a crumb topping, like on my pumpkin crumb cake muffins.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
- Pumpkin. Adds pumpkin flavor, of course, but also moisture. Be sure to use canned pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling.
- Sugar. A combination of dark brown sugar and granulated sugar adds sweetness, moisture and a hint of molasses in the topping.
- Oil or Butter. Adds fat, flavor and moisture.
- Whole Milk. Moisture.
- Eggs. Add structure and strength to the muffin batter.
- Vanilla. Flavor.
- All-Purpose Flour. Adds structure to the muffin batter.
- Corn Starch. Tenderizes the muffins for a soft, fluffy texture.
- Baking Soda. Leavens the muffins so they rise.
- Coarse Kosher Salt. Balances the sweetness.
- Spices. A blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves are perfectly complementary to the pumpkin.
- Pecans. These pumpkin pecan muffins have chopped pecans in the batter, as well as more pecan halves arranged on top for a pretty but simple decoration.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 F, and line a standard-sized muffin pan with 12 paper liners. Lightly spray the liners with non-stick baking spray, to easily release the muffins, and spray the top of the muffin pan, too.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, sugars, oil or butter, milk, eggs and vanilla.
- Separately, whisk together the flour, corn starch, baking soda, salt, spices and chopped pecans.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix together with a spatula, just until all the dry ingredients are incorporated.
- Divide the batter between the muffin cups; they will be fairly full.
- Arrange the pecan halves on top of the batter.
- Put the muffins in the oven and immediately turn the temperature down to 375 F. Bake the muffins on the center oven rack for about 22 minutes, until a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean, or with moist crumbs.
- Cool the muffins in the pan for 2 minutes, then carefully remove and set on a wire cooling rack. Cool for 10 minutes, and serve warm.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
Will this recipe work with chocolate chips?
Yes, you can add about 3/4 – 1 cup of chocolate chips to the batter and bake as instructed.
Will this recipe work if I don’t live at high altitude?
If you’re at sea level or low altitude, you might need to make a few adjustments. Please see my FAQs for guidance.
How should I store the muffins?
Store leftover pumpkin pecan muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. To reheat them, warm them at 50% power in the microwave for 30-40 seconds.
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High Altitude Pumpkin Pecan Muffins
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup light or dark brown sugar, lightly packed
- ½ cup vegetable oil (or melted unsalted butter)
- ¼ cup whole milk
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 1 tbsp corn starch
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ½ cup pecans, finely chopped
- ¼ cup pecan halves
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 F, and line a standard-sized muffin pan with 12 paper liners. Lightly spray the liners with non-stick baking spray, to easily release the muffins, and spray the top of the muffin pan, too.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, sugars, oil or butter, milk, eggs and vanilla.
- Separately, whisk together the flour, corn starch, baking soda, salt, spices and chopped pecans.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix together with a spatula, just until all the dry ingredients are incorporated.
- Divide the batter between the muffin cups; they will be fairly full.
- Arrange the pecan halves on top of the batter.
- Put the muffins in the oven and immediately turn the temperature down to 375 F. Bake the muffins on the center oven rack for about 22 minutes, until a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean, or with moist crumbs.
- Cool the muffins in the pan for 2 minutes, then carefully remove and set on a wire cooling rack. Cool for 10 minutes, and serve warm.
I made these yesterday with the crumb topping from your pumpkin bread and they were a big hit! These will certainly be made more this fall, thanks so much!
Another fantastic recipe from Heather! These muffins baked perfectly and tasted wonderful. These muffins had the perfect amount of sweetness while having all the flavors of autumn. A family favorite….