Chai-Spiced Pumpkin Muffins

These muffins use pumpkin purée and a chai-style spice blend for a bakery-style breakfast or snack. They are baked in two batches in a standard 12-cup muffin tin so the recipe yields the full batch, then finished with an optional vanilla glaze.

By Julienne

Cook time: 30 minutes

Servings: 16

Ingredients

• 360 g all-purpose flour spooned and leveled
• 200 g granulated sugar
• 100 g light brown sugar packed
• 12 g baking powder
• 4 g baking soda
• 4 g fine salt
• 8 g ground cinnamon
• 4 g ground ginger
• 2 g ground cardamom
• 1 g ground cloves
• 0.5 g ground black pepper
• 425 g pumpkin purée
• 2 each large eggs lightly beaten
• 120 ml neutral oil
• 120 ml milk
• 10 ml vanilla extract
• 120 g powdered sugar sifted
• 20 ml milk for glaze
• 2 ml vanilla extract for glaze

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 220°C. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners. Oven is fully preheated and the pan is lined.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, cloves, and black pepper until evenly combined. The dry mixture looks uniform with no pockets of spice or leavener.
3. In a second bowl, whisk the pumpkin purée, eggs, neutral oil, milk, and vanilla until smooth. The mixture is smooth and evenly orange with no streaks of egg visible.
4. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and fold just until no dry flour remains. Do not overmix; a few small streaks are acceptable. The batter is thick and evenly moistened, not elastic or overworked.
5. Divide about three-quarters of the batter among 12 muffin cups, filling each cup nearly to the top, then bake at 220°C for 5 minutes. Without opening the oven for long, reduce the oven temperature to 175°C and bake for 14 to 17 minutes more, until the tops spring back lightly and a tester comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. The first batch is domed, set, and lightly browned at the edges.
6. Cool the muffins in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a rack and let the tin cool enough to handle. Re-line the tin if needed, divide the remaining batter among the empty cups, and repeat the same bake for the second batch. The second batch is also domed, set, and pulls cleanly from the liners after cooling.
7. For the glaze, whisk the powdered sugar, milk for glaze, and vanilla extract for glaze until smooth. Drizzle over the cooled muffins, or skip the glaze if you want them plain. The glaze falls in a thin ribbon from the whisk and holds briefly on the surface.