Pumpkin Sour Cream Muffins

A hand holding a pumpkin sour cream muffin covered in sugar.

5 from 2 votes

Pumpkin Sour Cream Muffins

These soft and fluffy pumpkin sour cream muffins are made in one bowl. They're dunked in butter & rolled in pumpkin pie spice sugar, or you can sprinkle over sparkling sugar! These are perfect for Fall and Thanksgiving.

Prep Time15

Cook Time22

Total Time37

Course: Breakfast, Snack

Cuisine: American

Diet: Vegetarian

Servings: muffins

Calories: 402kcal

Author: Ella Gilbert

Equipment

Muffin pan

Ingredients

Muffins

1 ¼ cup sugar
1 ⅓ cup pumpkin puree
8 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
¼ cup sour cream room temperature
2 large large eggs room temperature
2 cups all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
½ teaspoon kosher salt
Sparkling Sugar optional

Pumpkin Spice Sugar

5 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
⅓ cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 425°Fahrenheit/220°Celsius and line a muffin pan with 10 muffin liners.
In a large bowl, whisk together all of the wet ingredients until smooth.
1 ¼ cup sugar, 1 ⅓ cup pumpkin puree, 8 tablespoons vegetable oil, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, ¼ cup sour cream, 2 large large eggs
Add the dry ingredients and fold everything together until the muffin batter is smooth.
2 cups all purpose flour, ½ teaspoon baking soda, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1 ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, ½ teaspoon kosher salt
Let the muffin batter rest for 10-15 minutes, this will help you get taller muffin tops!
Scoop out the muffin batter into the muffin liners to the very top. You can add sparkling sugar to the tops of the muffins now if you want!
Sparkling Sugar
Bake for 5 minutes, then without opening the oven door, lower the temperature to 350°Fahrenheit/175°Celsius and bake for an additional 16-18 minutes.
Take the muffins out of the oven and let them cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Take them out and place on a wire rack.
If you want pumpkin spice sugar muffins, melt the butter in a shallow bowl.
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
Stir the sugar and pumpkin spice together in a separate shallow bowl, set aside.
⅓ cup granulated sugar, 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
Pick up a still warm muffin and dip the top of the muffin into the melted butter. Then dip and roll the buttered muffin into the pumpkin spice sugar mixture. Place the muffin back on the wire cooling rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining muffins.

Notes

My recipes have been developed and tested in metric grams. I highly recommend using a weighing scale and measuring out your ingredients the metric way.

Pumpkin: Make sure you are using canned pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling!

Oil: Use a neutral oil like vegetable, canola or sunflower oil.

Storage: keep in an airtight container at room temperature for 1 day, or in the fridge for five days. I don't recommend keeping them in a ziploc bag, especially if they've been rolled in butter and sugar, as they tend to go soggy.

Tall Muffin Tops: If you want those tall muffin tops, make sure you let the batter rest for 10-15 minutes and also bake them at that high initial temperature!

Freezing: freeze baked and cooled muffins in a freezer bag for up 2 months. Let them thaw in the fridge or at room temperature. You can also defrost them in the microwave. I recommend freezing them before they've been rolled in butter and sugar, though!

Nutrition