Made with just 2 ingredients (including spice cake mix), my easy pumpkin spice muffins are ridiculously moist and bursting with pumpkin flavor. Add a crumbly streusel topping to take them to the next level.
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!
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 spice muffins on earth…”
Oooh ooh! The best part… I added the streusel topping from Grandmama’s sweet potato casserole to 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 at the very bottom of your trash can. Putting a few crumpled paper towels on top of it wouldn’t hurt, either.
Ready to make my 2-ingredient easy pumpkin muffin recipe with a crumbly streusel topping? Let’s go!
Recipe Ingredients
- Spice cake mix
- Canned pumpkin puree
- Butter/margarine
- Plain flour
- Brown sugar
How to Make Pumpkin Spice Muffins
Dump your can of pumpkin and your box of cake mix in a mixing bowl and add 1/2 cup of water.
That’s it. Seriously. Honest!
Ohmigosh! These are good. I made these a few weeks ago for this tutorial and I got up early this morning to make them for breakfast after working on this tutorial last night!
Oh, I was showing y’all how to make these, wasn’t I?
~sighs~ Y’all are slave drivers, you know that? ~winks~
Alright, mix the batter up until it looks like this.
Grease your muffin tin wells with either cooking spray or shortening.
I was out of cooking spray so I used shortening.
Measure out your muffin batter into the prepared muffin cups.
This doesn’t rise too much so you can fill them a bit fuller than you normally do.
Now let’s make our streusel or Yum Topping as my kidders call it.
Streusel Topping
In a bowl, place your margarine or butter, brown sugar, and plain flour.
Yes, this is making a lot but don’t worry, I’ll show ya what to do with leftovers.
With a long-tined fork or pastry cutter, cut in your margarine.
Just keep pressing down with your fork like I am doing here until it looks like the next picture. You’ll need to stir a bit as you cut.
If your margarine is not room temp, this is going to be pretty difficult so plan ahead a bit for this.
There ya go! Your streusel topping is complete.
I sprinkled my yum topping over half of them and patted it down a bit.
If you have any topping left, just put it in a plastic bag and store it in your fridge to use as a topping on other muffins, coffee cakes, or the like in the next few weeks. If you don’t know when you are going to be able to use it, just stick it in the freezer. That’s what I did and this morning. I got it out and used it when I made these again.
Bake at 350 for 20-24 minutes
Remove from pan and dig in.
Don’t these look lovely? You can only imagine how wonderful they make your house smell!
Storage
- Store pumpkin muffin leftovers in an airtight container either at room temperature or in the fridge for up to 5 days.
- You can also freeze muffins for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature before serving. Feel free to warm them up in the oven or air fryer.
Recipe Notes
- Want to add something extra? For , fold in up to 3/4 cup of . Other options include butterscotch chips, cinnamon chips, chopped nuts like pecans and walnuts, crystallized ginger, raisins, or chopped dried cranberries.
- These pumpkin muffins are delicious as is, but I also recommend adding a spread of butter or nut butter.
- You want to use canned pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling, as that has extra sugar and sweetness we don’t need.
- If you don’t want to add the streusel topping, you can serve them as is, sprinkle some oats on top, add a cinnamon sugar topping instead, or add a simple powdered sugar glaze.
- You can use a box of yellow cake mix or chocolate cake mix instead. However, if you do this I’d add a teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice to the batter.
Check out these other pumpkin treats:
Pumpkin Praline Cake With Cream Cheese Icing
Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes With Cream Cheese Frosting
Pumpkin Bars With Cream Cheese Frosting & Candied Pecans
Ingredients
Muffins
- 1 box spice cake mix
- 1 can pumpkin
- 1/2 cup water
Streusel Topping
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup margarine or butter at room temp
- 1 cup plain flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin.
- In a mixing bowl, place all ingredients and mix until well blended. Scoop into prepared muffin pan.1 box spice cake mix, 1 can pumpkin, 1/2 cup water
- For the topping, stir together flour and brown sugar, breaking up any lumps. Cut in butter or margarine. Spoon or sprinkle on top of muffins, patting down slightly.1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup margarine or butter at room temp, 1 cup plain flour
- Bake at 350 for 20 to 24 minutes.
Nutrition
Today is a great day just waiting to happen!
Love these muffins with the topping. Added 1/2 bag of mini chocolate chips which made them even more fantastic!
Finally tried this and wow! Fall flavor in a super easy recipe. Used buttermilk in place of water just because I had it & baked in cupcake liners. Turned out perfectly and what takes them over the top is the streusel topping. Many thanks! This one goes in our family favorites album.
Isn’t that streusel topping just the best!! Thank you so much for letting me know that you loved it. Truly warms my heart.
We got 7″ of snow last night and more on the way. I love that this is so easy! I’m going to make these this afternoon and have one with a cup of tea 🙂 Thanks for the recipe!
Oh WOW, 7” of snow already!! Stay warm and I hope you enjoy the muffins!!
So, I’m late to the party on this one but I didn’t see anyone say what is on my mind. I never use margarine, I think butter is much healthier. Is there a reason you choose margarine over butter for this recipe?
I love these cake mix muffins. Super easy. I buy a case of pumpkin every year after the Thanksgiving rush. Canned pumpkin has so many uses and is healthy eating.
I made these for a church brunch and they were a big hit! I had complete strangers coming up to tell me how much they liked them, when I went to collect the empty tray. And they were SO easy to make!
I am so glad to hear that were a hit!!!