Summer days of salads and bbq are over. Now we’re into stews, soups, and baked treats. I LOVE it! When the temperature drops, my desire to bake rises. Colder weather just does that to me. Anyone else?
I truly adore this time of year, you know, pumpkin season, formerly known as fall. The air smells amazing, the colours outside are gorg annnnd pumpkin spice is everywhere. What’s not to love?
These muffins are adapted from my morning glory muffins. I thought they’d make a great fall treat, especially by adding more pumpkin and including some fall spices (AIP ones of course!). These aren’t your typical sweet cake muffins though. I think of them more as rustic muffins, which make an amazing snack, especially an on-the-go snack.
Ingredient Highlight
Plantain
You know what’s extremely cool about plantain? You can make bread type recipes with it by puréeing this starchy fruit! I use this technique in my plantain collagen protein pancakes and plantain apple cookies.
Pumpkin Purée
I love using pumpkin purée because not only does it increase the nutrition in baked goods but it also helps with binding, which AIP baking can always use since it is egg-free.
Random thought: I wonder how much sales of pumpkin purée increases from summer to fall?
Cinnamon, Ginger, and Mace
Just typing these words, makes me smell fall spice. It is seriously one of my most fave flavour combinations. Since nutmeg, is a seed-based spice, it is on the avoid list when following the Autoimmune Protocol. BUT I promise, you will not feel like you’re missing out when using cinnamon, ginger, and mace!
Yield: 10 muffins
Pumpkin Spice Muffins (AIP/Paleo)
10 minutes
55 minutes
15 minutes
1 hour 20 minutes
Ingredients
- 2 large green plantains, chopped
- 3/4 cup pumpkin purée
- 1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
- 3 tsp apple cider vinegar
Dry Ingredients
- 1/4 cup arrowroot starch or tapioca starch
- 3 tbsp coconut flour
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ginger powder
- 1/2 tsp mace
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375
- Add plantains, acv, coconut oil, and pumpkin purée to a high powered blender. Purée until smooth.
- Whisk together dry ingredients.
- Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix until combined.
- Separate batter into ten greased muffin cups. I grease mine with coconut oil.
- Bake for 50 – 55 minutes.
- Allow to cool completely before removing from pan.
- Enjoy!
Nutmeg is NOT a nightshade. It is a nut.
Right, not sure why I put nightshade in there! Nutmeg is indeed a seed based spice. Thanks for pointing it out 🙂
These are great. They have a nice cakey texture and still taste great the next day. It’s nice to have a muffin recipe without nuts. I’m going to add some finely grated carrot next time I make them and see what happens.
Thank you!
Yay glad you like them!!! Carrot would be great in these!
These are so good!! After I eat them I get really congested though 🙁 Do you have any idea which ingredients could be the culprit? I’m just now starting AIP and I really want to be able to eat these lol
oh no!!! Sounds like you are certainly reacting to something. I can’t say for sure what exactly you are reacting to, but congestion is always the first sign I get when I eat something that doesn’t agree with me. I also get symptoms when I eat too much starch and since these are made with plantains they are high in starch. Digestive enzymes help for me. Hope this helps!
These taste really good but they got way too burnt in my oven (at 50 minutes) Do they need that long in the oven or should I maybe foil them to start and remove during the last half of baking to avoid burning?
hmm interesting. In my oven they definitely need the 50 minutes, and I’ve never had them burn, but all ovens are different. I would start out with 30 minutes and keep an eye on them, and/or reduce the temp. Hope this helps!
Thank you!
I made these yesterday… what type of sweetener would you recommend? They were good but I feel like they could use a little sweetener.
My go-to sweetener is maple syrup, so I would add a bit of that. Honey would work too!
Have you ever tried them with bananas instead of plantains? Do you think that’d work?
I have not. But green bananas might do the trick. If you give it a try, let me know how it turns out!
I tried it with bananas and it came out really bitter/metallic tasting. I think the bananas probably would have worked, I suspect I’m just not a fan of mace. This was my first time ever using mace and I think it’s just too overwhelming to my palette. But in general, I just don’t like strong spices; if I use too much of thyme in my cooking, it’s overwhelming to me too. But now I know that mace is not a spice that my palette agrees with. I love vanilla but even too much vanilla I can’t tolerate. So maybe if I had decreased the amount of mace? Idk. Maybe the plantains neutralize/dilute the flavor of mace more than the bananas do?
I find it so interesting how we all have different taste preferences. I myself like a lot of flavour, so I tend to put a bit more seasonings and spices in my food. You could be right about the plantains neutralizing the flavour though!
I tried the recipe with bananas and they were still very gooey in the center. Does this happen with the plantains as well? Wondering if it’s from the bananas
It could be because of the bananas. I have not had them turn out that way with plaintains. Plantains are starchier than bananas, so it may prevent that gooeyness you’re describing.
I love these muffins! It is refreshing not to have to deal with a gelatin egg as well 🙂 I have substituted green bananas and ripe bananas and they still turned out great. I have also added a few chopped dates. Mace is a funny spice. I use the smallest amount possible; just to my taste. Today I realized I was out of ginger, so I threw in a tiny bit of cloves. I’m sure they’ll be great. Thank you!
I’m baking these now, so I will have to update on how they come out. I’m curious if these will keep for a few days and if they need to refrigerated.
Oh YAY! hope you enjoy them! They will keep for a few days and I refrigerate them but warm them up before eating!
Just finished my first batch and they are awesome! Made as-is, but couldn’t resist adding 2 Tbsp maple syrup and a old handful of chopped up organic dried apricots. One of the best AIP baking recipes I’ve tried. Thanks!
oh YAY so glad to hear you enjoy them! 😀 And the addition of dried apricots sounds delish!
Hi, I have many different autoimmune issues. I too believe, but haven’t been diagnosed yet, that I have lichen sclerosis. What do you think I could use in place of the plantains? I can’t eat bananas. I have read you can use sweet potatoes as a substitute – do you think this would work?
Hi Kim!
hmm it’s possible sweet potato would work, but I can’t be sure as I haven’t tried it. I did just post a recipe for sweet potato cookies though, you may be interested in: http://lichenpaleolovingaip.com/spiced-sweet-potato-cookies/
These have been in my oven for an hour and a half and are still extremely gooey on the inside. Waste of very expensive ingredients 🙁
Ugh so sorry to hear that, I totally get the frustration when AIP baking doesn’t turn out. They shouldn’t be gooey on the inside. The only thing I can suggest is to make sure you’re using green plantains, plantains that are not ripe.