Pumpkin Spice Muffins with Streusel (You’re not going to believe what the ingredients are!)
Special thanks to Angie Sharp for letting me use her beautiful picture!
I don’t know if pumpkin is a southern thing. You always hear of pumpkin pie on Southern tables at Thanksgiving and such, but no one in my family has ever made a pumpkin pie to my knowledge. I had never tasted anything at all with pumpkin until about three years ago. While on a quilting retreat, we were served these delicious spice muffins and I just had to have the recipe. Imagine my surprise (and Mama’s) when we found out they were pumpkin!
You see, Mama had always claimed to dislike anything pumpkin. She had tried pumpkin pie as a child and whenever we asked about it she would just shake her head and say “Its kind of slimy, trust me, you wouldn’t like it”. Of course, we took her word for it, and each one of us grew up to be avowed pumpkin dislikers as well. You know, I’m pretty sure “disliker” is not a word but it makes perfect sense in that sentence, doesn’t it? See, the English language just needs to keep up with me and we’ll all be better off.
Anyway, as it turns out, Mama must have gotten a hold of a bad piece of pumpkin pie as a child because we have both broadened our horizons with regards to pumpkin since that muffin incident and it is now a regular part in our holiday baking, as well as year round baking thanks to these muffins.
No, these aren’t the ones we had on retreat. They are actually better except for one thing – those on the retreat were baked for us, you have to bake these yourself. Everything tastes better when someone else cooks it for you!
A neighbor of a friend gave me this recipe when I was telling her about the muffins. She was of the Northern persuasion and, thinking pumpkin was a Northern thing at the time, I asked her if she happened to know how to make pumpkin muffins.
Her face immediately lit up with glee at getting to pass this recipe on to one more person and now I share that glee in passing it on to you. To quote the person who first gave it to me…”If you want to make the BEST pumpkin muffins on earth…”
Oooh ooh! The best part…I added the streusel topping from Grandmama’s Sweet Potato Casseroleto them! They were good before but now – WOW! Tastes like something you’d get in a coffee shop. Go ahead, impress someone with your culinary skill today. Just make sure you hide the cake mix box in the very bottom of your trash can. Putting a few crumpled paper towels on top of it wouldn’t hurt, either.
Ingredients
- 1 box spice cake mix
- 1 can pumpkin
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 Cup Brown Sugar
- 1 Stick Margarine
- 1 Cup Flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 12 cup muffin tin.
- In mixing bowl, place all ingredients. Mix until well blended. Scoop into muffin tin.
- For the topping, stir together flour and brown sugar, breaking up any lumps. Cut in margarine. Spoon or sprinkle on top of muffins, pat down slightly.
- Bake at 350 for 20-24 minutes.
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Posted by Christy Jordan
on Nov 14 2008. Filed under Breads, Breakfast, Holiday Favorites!.
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These were the yummiest muffins I’ve offered my family lately. They loved them. Thanks so much !
Enjoyed the beautiful muffins..So simple yet so good…Hubby says try nuts in the topping next time..I think I will make for Thanksgiving..always like a new simple recipe..Thanks
I have been making these muffins for years and my family goes crazy over them. We usually have them in the Fall and Winter to help combat those cold Michigan mornings.
I’ve learned to cheat as Spice Cake is never on sale and I always have a box of yellow cake mix in the house. Use Yellow Cake mix instead and add 1 t cinnamon (we love cinnamon, so I use almost 2 t), 1/4 t ground cloves, 1/4 ground nutmeg and 1/4 t ground ginger.
I am planning on making these in the morning and adding the Yum topping – it sounds so good!!
Double thanks are in order for this one. Love the recipe Christy, thanks so much for sharing this one! And thanks to you as well Barbara Anne. The local grocery store actually did have spice cake mix on sale, so of course they were sold out! But thanks to you providing the measurements, I made these with the yellow cake mix and added the spice. Oh.my.stars. !!! These will definitely be a regular on our menu, lovely lovely muffins and so quick and easy
Ahhhh! Did you hear my oven singing!? Oh my goodness how delicious are these!
I just posted a blog about making these delicious muffins!
Oh Christy, a friend from church told me about these (minus the topping and the water) and then I saw that you had them in your book. These are wonderful!!! I love these sooo much. You don’t even need the water, but sometimes I will add some. You can also use carrot cake mix. Love, Love, Love them and so easy!
My 10-year-old granddaughter makes these by herself. She can’t have eggs or soy so finding this recipe was a blessing.
NOTE: Margarine has soy, so we use butter in the topping. (Seems like everything has soy!)
I make something similar here at home, ‘cept I add a dollop of cheese cake batter to the top instead of the ‘yum topping’, and add some pudding mix to the batter to make it extra moist.
We make chocolate ones using Devils Food cake mix. I’ll have to try the spice cake.
Just made these tonight – they came out so awesome! The idea for the chocolate pumpkin muffins sounds great too…wonder if you can add some cocoa powder to the topping for a chocolate streusel…hmmm. I’ll give it a try
Let me know how it turns out Christine, I think it is a good idea too.
I just picked up a copy of southern plate and this was the first recipe I made from the book. So easy to make, (except mine took longer to bake) and they came out amazing!!! I used a jumbo muffin and a mini muffin pan, and both turned out great! I brought the mini muffins to work with me and they were gone in less than an hour!!
I LOVE these muffins:) They are so good!! I had to put the rest in the freezer so I wouldn’t eat them all..
I do have one question… my streusal wasn’t very “crumbly”…. i had to put it on the muffin more like pats of butter. Don’t get me wrong-the taste was great, but I am just wondering if you have any tips on making it crumbly?
Oh-and I put the leftover Streusal in the fridge to use later, and my husband offered some to his dad a few days later. He said “Hey dad, try this cookie dough! I have been eating a little bit each day and it’s so good!” I thought he was joking but he really thought it was cookie dough:) hahaha
I made the with the crubly stuff on top then I added Betty Craocker Whipped Vanilla Frosting ontop of the crumbly stuff YUM!
so you don’t use eggs or the oil on cake box
Nope. Just keep it simple
thanks christy, I can’t wait to make these for my family to take to the football game sunday. I will also make them for the salesman where I work. I think I will drizzle some conf suger frosting on top of crumb frosting. Yum Yum
just curious how does this recipe work without the eggs
Sometimes you gotta go on faith
Faith has yet to disappoint me!
THANKS CHRISTY,
YOUR RIGHT,FAITH HAS NEVER DISAPPOINTED ME . HAD NON-HODGKINS LYMPHOMA IN 2009 2010 AND FAITH PULLED ME THROUGH . AND I AM HERE TO MAKE THESE YUMMY MUFFINS I AM TRULY BLESSED.
And now I’m even more blessed for you sharing that!!! Thank you for living a miracle!
I love the “Yum” topping! lol!
Can’t wait to try these. I got a receipe from somewhere last year for pumpkin bread that used a yellow cake mix. So yummy and was a big hit. This one will be loved too.
I can not wait to make these!!! I love muffins, pumpkin, and streusel!! YUMMY!!
Then you are going to LOVE these!!! I can’t wait to hear what you think!!
I’ve made this as a cake in an 9″x9″ pan (but without the water) and also with a devil’s food cake mix. Yummy!
Yummy!!
Oh my… it’s 11:00 PM and I’m going out the door to the store for spice cake and pumpkin so I can make these in the morning!!!!!!!! I’m crazy, but they look so good….thank you Christy… love you girl! Thanks for showing this old lady new tricks!
I hope you like them Sylvia!!! Love you too, hope you have a great day started out with some wonderful muffins!
OH MY GOODNESS!!!!! These were amazing, and BONUS they made my house smell so nice! I might try them next time with a cream cheese icing with some pecans. Thank you so much!
We made a version of this based on one of your commenters. We took a package of chocolate cake mix, make it according to the directions, and added in coconut pecan frosting to the mix. Oh my. No frosting needed. And so good. It hit that fall craving for me.
Thank you for having a great blog!
I love this recipe because my 4 year old can make this on her own. We add dark chocolate chips to ours. Super yummy that way! I’ll have to try your streusel topping on them soon.
Yummm! I will have to try them with the addition of the chocolate chips!
Ohhh I can’t wait to bake these!
A friend of mine told me about these muffins about a year ago. I agree, they are easy and super yummy. I experimented a little by using a carrot cake mix, a can of crushed pineapple (in it’s own juice and drained a little), and a cup of chopped nuts. You can also add raisins if you like. I omitted the 1/2 cup of the water as the pineapple juice takes the place of it. These were equally as good as the pumpkin spice muffins.
I can’t wait to make these – I love this website, and you! Saw the rerun yesterday of you on Paula’s show, love your laugh. It’s very infectious!
I make these muffins too! SO EASY!!! I do cream cheese frosting on them! Yummy!!
Is the can of pumpkin the smaller one or bigger one?
Small can of pumpkin worked great-think the big can would overpower the mix!
I was wondering the same thing – the “regular” size can pumpkin or the large can?
“regular”, I’m thinking 19 ounces or so. I’ll look at the ounce size when I go to the grocery store today
spice cake brings back great memories. Grandma Schultheis used to make a wonderful spice cake….I have the recipe…think I’ll try it again and use pumpkin instead of wet ingredients…..I remember walking into her house and smelling the spice cake…it was wonderful….and there you go…bringing back another precious memory. ….LYB
Made these the other day and not only did my house smell wonderful, these are little bits of heaven!! I used a medium pan and made 18 muffins-They are so easy and DELISH!! Thanx Christy!!
Have these in the oven right now to take to my mama tomorrow! I added some oats to the topping (they were in the cabinet so I thought “eh, why not?”) So we’ll see how it turns out. I love that this recipe is so easy!
Hope that you and your lil’ turkeys have a great Thanksgiving!!
I have these in the oven right now. My streusal was doughy, not crumbly, but I noticed someone else had this problem & they still turned out yummy. I can’t wait to try them!
What I’m NOT looking forward to is January when I’ll have to cut back on all these tasty desserts.
Hi Christie,
I made these muffins and everyone loved them and wanted the recipe. I was in the store the other day and found BC Cinnamon swirl cake mix made with the cinnamon swirl mix pouch of stuff. I want to try and make muffins out of this but I’m not sure what to do to substitute for the pumpkin. If I make as is they will be just cupcakes. I’m thinking maybe and sour cream or greek yogurt. I don’t want to add apples since I want to preserve the flavor of the cinnamon. I’ll probably add some cinnamon glazed walnuts or pecans to the streusel. What are your thoughts?
[...] Streusal Pumpkin Spice Muffins (Cookbook p. 129) [...]
I usually make these with Chocolate chips. My kids love them so much I usually make 2 cake mixes, a big can of pumpkin and a bag of chocolate chips. I will have to try it with the topping instead. Sounds so yummy!
Mine are in the oven as I type! Gray, dreary day here in SC but it will be brighter when these are ready to eat!
cAN’T WAIT TO MAKE THIS SO EASY TO DO,LIKE THAT.HAVE MADE SOME OF YR.RECIPEAND LOVE THEM.
To use up the left over streusel, Butter an 8″ round cake pan. peel and slice apples into it till it’s filled to the top and sprinkle them with 2 T. white sugar and top with grated nutmeg and cinnamon. Sprinkle the streusel on top and bake in the oven @ 350 for 35 min.
You’ve made super yummy Apple Crisp. Serve warm with cream.
I just made these muffins but I used a carrot cake mix. These are the MOST DELICIOUS muffins ever and I don’t normally like muffins. But it was a little chilly this morning and I wanted to get in the Fall spirit. You really need to make these. Very simple and easy
P.S.
Mine actually looked like the picture…LOL !!!
Can I use self rising flour? That’s all I have…..?
For the topping? Absolutely!
I make this in a 9×13 pan and sprinkle cinnamon on top. It’s an old weight watchers recipe! I like the idea of the muffins and streusel – I’ll have to try it!
Just made these for my Sunday School class to have in the morning. Delicious!!!!! The yummy topping really makes them special. We will have them for breakfast on Thanksgiving morning. My muffin pans must make smaller muffins (though not minis) because I got 12 regular and 21 mini muffins.
I have found that not all muffin tins are the same size too. Not sure why that is. But on a good note, at least you have more to eat or share!!
Christy,
Have you ever made this in cake form (bundt cake or loaf) just curious! Thanks
I don’t know where my post went too.my excuse I am an elderly person.Helps.Ha!
Oh my! These sound wonderful. I love anything pumpkin and I have to try this recipe. Thanks so muc h for sharing it. Have a blessed Christmas Season!
Hey Christy, here in Australia where I live (way up in the boonies) we don’t get pumpkin in a can, so exactly how much mashed pumpkin do I need to make the Pumpkin Spice Muffins? Appreciate your site and love the chatter. Blessings. Deb