Giant Gluten Free Pumpkin Coffee Cake Muffins

Pumpkin season is in full swing and I’m just scrambling to find cans of pumpkin puree here in the UK so that I can make these GIANT gluten free pumpkin coffee cake muffins again for my new roommates! These muffins are an utter dream: they’re fluffy, sooooo pumpkiny, topped with a melt-in-your-mouth pecan streusel AND a maple glaze. Because just pumpkin alone is good, pumpkin and streusel is great, and pumpkin, streusel, and glaze is WOW. They’re actually gosh-darn easy to make too, so don’t let the three sets of ingredients put you off. It’s worth it to get all of these out of the giant muffin pans and show off for your family and friends who will be absolutely thrilled to try one (or two, or three). So far, I’ve tried searching at Aldi, Waitrose, and Tesco, and have yet to find canned pumpkin, so if you live in the UK and have spotted any around Oxfordshire, let me know!

For those of you just joining, we started creating GIANT muffin recipes about 5 months ago after reminiscing over the giant Costco muffins we used to eat (read: devour) as kids prior to getting diagnosed with Celiac. This giant muffin saga has now consumed our every free moment (not really but it’s exciting) and we continue to create new flavors with gusto. Back to the rest of the giant muffins! So far we’ve made these giant poppyseed muffins, giant blueberry muffins, giant chocolate chip muffins, giant double chocolate muffins, giant banana nut muffins, giant strawberry rhubarb muffins, giant apple streusel muffins, these giant lemon raspberry muffins, giant cherry chocolate chip muffins, these giant coffee walnut muffins, these giant pistachio apricot muffins, these giant orange marmalade muffins, these giant zucchini muffins, these giant mango muffins, these giant peach muffins, these giant chocolate zucchini muffins, these giant lavender earl grey muffins, these giant lemon saffron muffins, these giant ube white chocolate muffins, these giant chocolate orange muffins, these giant cinnamon chip muffins, these giant pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, and these giant toasted almond muffins!

Tips for the Scrumptious Giant Pumpkin Coffee Cake Muffins:

A few tips for getting these to turn out perfectly:

• Use the right-size of pan! Apparently, Costco keeps their giant muffin pans as a trade secret because we can’t find them ANYWHERE on the internet and you can find EVERYTHING on the internet. Bravo, Costco, for a secret well-kept. However, we’ve found a way to crack the code and gone ahead and just used these brilliant 4-inch cake pans because, after careful inspection, we’ve discovered that Costco muffins are exactly 4-inches in diameter! HA! Take that, Costco-bakery-lords. I never thought I’d be regularly using 4-inch cake pans but here we are. I’ll just need to make a bunch of tiny cake recipes next!
• Get that flavor! Yuzu can be hard to find in the states, but this is the yuzu marmalade that we found online that you can order – and there are plenty of other online options if you can’t find any in stores near you!
• Don’t over-mix your batter! Muffins need a lot of lift, especially these giant ones, and if you over-mix your batter, you’ll end up with sunken muffins which is no fun.
• Use a good 1-1 gluten free flour mix! We use the Bob’s Red Mill one (the baking mix), though we’ve heard good things about Cup-4-Cup. We’ve only tested this recipe with this one so if you want them to turn out exactly like ours, we recommend snagging a bag of that specific 1-1 gluten free flour.
• Do NOT open the oven door during baking time. Tape it shut if you have to! You can certainly turn on the oven light and peek and the gloriousness that is a set of rising muffins nearly-ready to be devoured, but do not open that door! Opening the door will immediately lower the oven temp and prohibit your muffins from rising correctly. If you’re in the last few minutes of baking and need to test to see if they’re done, open the oven just a tiny bit and reach in and just tap the top of one – if it springs back it’s done, if it presses in like a foam mattress topper, it’s not and needs a couple more minutes!
• These will keep in an airtight container (or in ziplock baggies) for a week or so – and they freeze REALLY well! So if you want to make a batch and save a bunch, put them in a sturdy plastic container or a freezer plastic bag and pop them in there. Then microwave for about 30-45 seconds (from frozen) before eating! I even like popping mine in the microwave for 10-15 seconds from room temp to get them all warm and floofy again before eating.
• STREUSEL: a good streusel is pretty dry so that it can crumble as you top your muffins and hold that crumbly shape. This streusel is packed with fall spices, butter, and chopped pecans and the flavor is SO incredible. I recommend letting your streusel sit for about 30 minutes before topping your muffins (the muffin batter has to rest anyway so it works out well) so that the flour in it can start to hydrate.
• GLAZE: glazes are a super easy way to elevate your muffin game. The glazes we use are essentially just powdered sugar and a liquid – in this case, milk. The key with glazes is getting the consistency right – you want to be able to drizzle or pour the glaze, so it needs to be able to move a bit, but you don’t want it to just pour off your muffins completely. You want to get to a thicker consistency (it should be thick when you stir it), that slowly pours when you lift up your stirring spoon. This will ensure that your glaze stays mostly on top of the muffin and that it stays opaque and doesn’t run off in a giant puddle. If your glaze seems to thin and runny, just add more powdered sugar! Vice versa if it seems waaaay too thick and you can’t even get it to pour, add a touch more milk.

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Giant Gluten Free Pumpkin Coffee Cake Muffins

These giant pumpkin muffins are rich with fall flavor and topped with a pecan streusel and a maple glaze!

Prep Time35 minutes mins

Cook Time40 minutes mins

Resting time15 minutes mins

Course: Breakfast, Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: American

Diet: Gluten Free

Keyword: breakfast, coffee cake, costco muffins, easy, fall, gluten free, maple, muffins, pecan, pumpkin, pumpkin cake, simple, streusel

Servings: 6 giant muffins

Calories: 550kcal

Author: Amelia Farber

Equipment

• Six 4-inch round cake pans (link below to the ones we use)
• Cookie sheet

Ingredients

For the streusel topping:

• 1 Cup roughly chopped pecans
• 1/3 Cup sweet rice flour
• 1/4 Cup packed blanched almond flour
• 1/4 Cup packed brown sugar
• 5 Tbsp melted salted butter
• 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon, ginger
• pinch salt, nutmeg, and allspice

For the muffins:

• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 Cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 Cup milk
• 1 1/2 Cups canned pumpkin puree
• 1 Cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 Cup white sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 3/4 Cup gluten free 1-1 flour mix with xanthan gum in it – link below to the one we use
• 1/2 Cup sweet rice flour
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg and ground allspice
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt

For the glaze:

• 1 1/4 Cup sifted powdered sugar
• 2 Tbsp maple syrup
• 1-2 Tbsp milk
• pinch salt

Instructions

• First, make the streusel topping. In a medium bowl, combine all of the streusel ingredients (the sweet rice flour, chopped pecans, butter, spices, brown sugar, salt, almond flour), mixing together until all of the flour has been combined and there is no extra white/floury bits. Then start crumbling the mixture into smaller chunks (1/4-1/2 inch chunks) and then let the streusel sit in the bowl while you make the muffin batter.
• Make the muffin batter! It will need to rest at room temp for 15 minutes before baking. First, in a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, white and brown sugar, oil, canned pumpkin, milk, and vanilla until thicker and smooth. Add in the gluten free 1-1 flour, sweet rice flour, spices, baking powder, and salt and stir until just combined (do not overmix). Then let the batter, and the separate streusel bowl, sit either on the counter for at least 30 minutes before baking (you can let it rest in the fridge for longer if you want).
• Once the batter has rested preheat the oven to 425° Fahrenheit and place your six 4-inch cake pans on a cookie sheet. Spray each pan with cooking spray, then spoon batter into each one evenly (they should be about 3/4-5/6 full) and then top each muffin with a generous amount of the crumble topping – completely covering each muffin. I recommend pressed gently to get more streusel to stick. Bake for 5 minutes at 425 then immediately lower the temp to 350° F (do NOT open the oven door!) and let bake for 35-40 more minutes until the tops spring back with touched. Let cool nearly-completely before turning out and glazing.
• Once the muffins are nearly-cooled and have been turned out (carefully or all the topping will crumble off!) onto a tray or plate, make your glaze! In a smaller bowl, stir together all of the glaze ingredients with a table spoon until you reach the right consistency – I recommend starting with just the maple syrup and powdered sugar, then adding milk as you need it. You're looking for fairly thick glaze that you can still pour or drizzle but that pours slowly so that it will stay on top of the muffins and not run off. If the glaze is too thick, add a touch more milk; if it's too thin, add more sifted powdered sugar. Then drizzle the glaze generously over the top of each muffin, and then serve!
• You can let the glazed muffins sit at room temp for 30-45 minutes for the glaze to harden, then put into zip-top bags and keep in the fridge or freezer for up to a week. Best-served slightly warm, so pop them in the microwave for 10-20 seconds from room temp!

Tag @sisterssansgluten on Instagram if you snap a photo of your muffins!

Food photography and styling by Amelia Farber