The Best Skinny Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins

These Cranberry-Studded Healthy Pumpkin Muffins are the perfect sweet treat to brighten up a grey fall morning! They are flavored with warming spices, gluten-free and made without refined sugar.

When you read this post for Healthy Pumkin Muffins on Monday, I will be on the plane taking me to our new life in Montreal! It's now Sunday morning as I type and our apartment is almost empty.

My whole kitchen (pantry + all the pots and pans) has been transferred to a dear friend of mine and our mattress is being used as a desk, couch, and bed.

I'm still trying to fit everything into our 5 suitcases (+ 2 carry on) and it's mostly clothes and important documents. Everything else has been donated, sold and thrown away. Talk about starting from scratch!

The fridge + freezer have been gone for more than a week now and we've been living off take-out (mostly sushi for me, obviously) and dinners with friends.

However, I can still remember precisely the taste of these healthy pumpkin muffins with delicious tart cranberries in every bite.

I made several batches of these healthy pumpkin muffins when I was testing this recipe and Solal brought some to his co-workers.

One of them (an American) said that it tasted just like Thanksgiving and I think it's the perfect way to describe them! It's like all the flavors of the holidays in just one bite.

And I don't know about you, but holiday flavors bring me instant joy and happiness 🙂

So I decided to be bold and proclaimed these cranberry-studded healthy pumpkin muffins THE BEST because they're simply delicious.

And I don't mean delicious for healthy muffins. Just...Delicious, period. Serve them to anyone you know and they'll be happy! But don't forget to keep one  or two just for you, of course.

I love that these healthy pumpkin muffins are only sweetened with unrefined sugar. I've used coconut sugar because it's my favorite one (read more about it in this article I wrote) but you can also use brown sugar if that's what you have on hand.

For the flour, I've used a gluten-free mix to be gentle on my tummy but regular wheat flour works fine too. Everything is explained in the recipe below.

 Oh, and one last note, as they are not glazed or frosted, these pumpkin cranberry muffins freeze well and they're kid-friendly. I've witnessed a very cute 2 year-old devour one in less than 3 minutes!

Next time you'll hear from me again, I will be officially living in Canada! Woohoo! We'll be staying in Montreal for 5 days before going to Toronto on Saturday (we'll be traveling for about 3 weeks).

If you want to see updates and travel pictures, follow me on Instagram (@notenoughcinnamon) and Snapchat (username: NECinnamon)!

If you tried this recipe for healthy pumpkin muffins with cranberries, don’t forget to rate the recipe below and let me know how it went in the comments – I love hearing from you! You can also follow me on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook for more deliciousness and behind-the-scenes!

5 from 1 vote

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The Best Skinny Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins

These Skinny Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins are the perfect healthy sweet treat to brighten up a grey fall morning! They are flavored with warming spices, gluten-free and made without refined sugar.

Course Snack, Treat

Cuisine American

Keyword #brunchrecipe, breakfast, cranberry muffins, gluten free muffin recipe, healthy pumpkin muffins, refined sugar free muffin recipe, Thanksgiving

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Servings 12 muffins

Calories 155 kcal

Ingredients

• 7.5 oz all-purpose gluten free flour - 210 g - about 1 ½ cups I used Bob's Red Mill GF All Purpose Flour – for best and consistent results, try to weigh the flour if you can – see notes if you want to use regular flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ¾ tsp ground ginger
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ⅛ tsp ground cloves
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 cup pumpkin puree homemade or store-bought
• 1 cup coconut sugar or brown sugar - see notes
• ½ cup buttermilk
• 2 tbsp melted refined coconut oil make sure to use refined and not unrefined coconut oil to avoid the coconut taste
• 1 large egg
• 1 tbsp orange zest
• ⅔ cup sweetened dried cranberries chopped
• cooking spray

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375F - 190C
2. Line a 12-hole muffin pan with muffins liners, lightly spray each liner with cooking spray and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, add flour, baking soda, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and salt. Whisk to combine.
4. In another large bowl, add pumpkin puree, coconut sugar, buttermilk, coconut oil, egg and orange zest. Beat with a mixer on medium speed until well combined, about 3 minutes.
5. Transfer pumpkin mixture to flour mixture, and beat until just combined. Fold in cranberries.
6. Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins. I used a cookie scoop and spooned about 2 tablespoons of batter per muffin.
7. Bake for 25 minutes or until the muffins spring back when touched lightly in center. Remove muffins from pan immediately and place on a wire rack.

Recipe Notes

• FLOUR – I tested this recipe using Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Gluten Free Flour. Please note that if you use another brand of GF Flour, results could be slightly different.
  The original recipe called for 1 ½ cups all purpose flour (the regular kind). If you don't want/need to use GF flour, you could use regular flour but I did not test it.
• SUGAR – Coconut sugar has a light caramel/butterscotch flavor that makes it perfect for these muffins and is healthier than refined sugar. You can replace it with brown sugar, but I tested the recipe using coconut sugar. To learn everything about coconut sugar, check out this article I wrote.

  Adapted from Cooking Light

Nutrition Facts

The Best Skinny Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins

Amount Per Serving (1 muffin)

Calories 155 Calories from Fat 27

% Daily Value*

Fat 3g5%

Saturated Fat 2g13%

Cholesterol 14mg5%

Sodium 196mg9%

Potassium 81mg2%

Carbohydrates 31g10%

Fiber 2g8%

Sugar 14g16%

Protein 2g4%

Vitamin A 3215IU64%

Vitamin C 1.6mg2%

Calcium 39mg4%

Iron 1mg6%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.