Orange-Pumpkin Muffins

Monday, November 5, 2012

Pumpkin Muffins simply scream fall too me. When my children were, well, when they were children, lol, we had a Sunday morning tradition -- we had muffins for breakfast - EVERY Sunday. With coffee, tea, cocoa, milk or whatever. I always enjoyed the Sunday morning ritual of baking those muffins as everyone scrambled to get ready for church (1 shower + 6 people = scrambling). When someone requested Pumpkin Muffins I knew Fall had truly arrived.


As I embarked on a low-carb lifestyle I knew some foods were pretty much going to be scratched -- some forever and some just until I figured out a way to make them low-carb -- Pumpkin Muffins are in the second category. When developing this recipe I took a few things into consideration -- I love orange and molasses flavors with pumpkin - those had to be added in. I think this recipe captures those as well as the wonderful flavor of pumpkin perfectly -- try these as part of your breakfast or as a nice coffee (or tea) treat late morning or afternoon.


Pumpkin Muffins

1-1/2 cups almond flour
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 Tbsp grated orange zest (the zest of 1 orange)
2 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup Swerve or Truvia
1/2 Tbsp blackstrap molasses
3 large eggs
1 cup fresh OR canned pumpkin puree
1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts

In a mixing bowl combine almond flour, baking soda, salt, orange zest and pumpkin pie spice. Cream softened butter, sweetener and molasses. Add eggs, one at a time, then mix in pumpkin  until smooth. Stir wet ingredients into dry,  careful to not over-mix. Grease or paper liner muffin tin. Divide batter into the muffin tin. Sprinkle walnuts over top of muffins - about 1 tsp per muffin. Bake at 325°F for 30-40 minutes. Makes 8 muffins @ 1 muffin per serving.

8 servings = 187 calories and 4.6 net carbs per serving.

Disclaimer: I use FatSecret.com to calculate carb counts based on the product brands used.