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These Pumpkin Churro Mini Muffins are super moist, loaded with fall flavors and coated in a “churro” coating. They’re cute, pop-able and nearly impossible to have “just one!”

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A pile of mini pumpkin muffins coated in a cinnamon sugar mixture on a wooden tray.

My favorite food season has always been fall. Pumpkin, apple, butternut squash…..such warm, cozy flavors that make me want to be in the kitchen! These mini muffins are the absolute BEST way to kick off pumpkin season!

Why I Love these Mini Pumpkin Muffins

  • They’re moist, fluffy, perfectly spiced, delicious mini muffins with incredible pumpkin flavor.
  • They’re small, so they don’t take long to bake. I’m impatient, so this is important! 😉
  • They can be enjoyed for breakfast, a morning snack, after-school snack or even dessert!
  • Customizable!  Stir some mini chocolate chips into the batter or top with cream cheese frosting for a decadent mini dessert!
  • They’re the perfect size (like little donut holes!), especially for little hands!  However, you can make regular muffins, too!
Ingredients gathered on a kitchen counter to make mini pumpkin muffins.

Ingredients for Mini Pumpkin Muffins

Luckily, these are likely all ingredients you have at home! (Especially if you’ve been stocking up on pumpkin puree gearing up for fall!) Yep, my cupboard has been stocked for a couple months now! No shame. 😉

  • All-Purpose Flour
  • Sugar – You’ll use white sugar for the batter and for the churro coating.
  • Brown Sugar
  • Baking Soda
  • Salt
  • Pumpkin Pie Spice (store-bought or homemade)
  • Large Eggs
  • Pumpkin Puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
  • Melted Butter – Cool to room temperature so it doesn’t cook the eggs when whisked together; you can opt to use vegetable oil if you wish.
  • Ground Cinnamon

How to Make Pumpkin Churro Mini Muffins

Preheat the oven and grease your mini muffin pan with cooking spray.

Make the Muffins

In a large bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients (eggs, pumpkin and melted butter).  You can use a handheld whisk or opt to use an electric mixer. 

Pumpkin muffin batter in a bowl.

In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients.  Next, pour the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture and stir until combined.  

Use a small cookie scoop to fill each muffin cup about 3/4 full and bake.

Coat the Muffins

Stir together the cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl.  Roll each warm muffin into the mixture and roll until evenly coated.

Cinnamon Sugar coating in a white bowl.

The cinnamon sugar coating is what gives these muffins the “churro” effect.  If you can’t get the mixture to stick to the muffins, you can give them a light mist of cooking spray (or dunk them in melted butter!) and then roll them into the cinnamon sugar.  

Speed up the process by mixing the cinnamon sugar in a large resealable bag then adding the muffins and shaking to coat.  This takes much less time than rolling each little muffin.

A close-up of a pumpkin churro mini muffin with a bite out of it.

Can I make these into full-sized muffins?

Absolutely. I tested these out as mini muffins and as standard sized muffins. Both turned out really great! As expected, the larger muffins had a longer bake time, but just by a few minutes at the same temperature.

If you’d like to make these in cupcake liners, you can, but won’t get the full effect of the cinnamon sugar coating. However, just like my mini Snickerdoodle Muffins you can certainly still dunk the top into the coating and they’ll be delicious!

Several pumpkin mini muffins in a silver metal container.

How long can I store these mini muffins?

These muffins, like any muffin really, are best the day they’re made. However, I happily tested these out for several days after making them and I can assure you of two things…. 1. It was a very tasty quality check and 2. Yes, you can keep them for 5 days in an airtight container and still have a GREAT, moist muffin.

A pile of cinnamon sugar coated mini pumpkin muffins on a wooden board.

Notes about the Cinnamon Sugar Coating

If you don’t plan to eat these on the same day you make them, I recommend holding off on the cinnamon sugar coating. Save that for the day you serve them (as the coating tends to “melt” in an airtight container).

If it does “melt,” no worries – simply mix up a little more cinnamon sugar mix and coat them again!

Also, if the cinnamon sugar mixture doesn’t seem to stick to the muffins, you can either give them a quick mist of cooking spray before rolling them in the cinnamon sugar OR dunk the tops in melted butter first!

How to Freeze Pumpkin Mini Muffins

If you want to make these a week or even a month in advance (say you’ve got a fall open house, baby or bridal shower to prepare for), you definitely can. Simply hold off on the coating and freeze the muffins in a freezer bag or an airtight container. Coat them once they’re thawed out.

A hand holding a mini pumpkin muffin with a bite out of it.

Tips for Making Great Muffins

Muffins are really quite simple to make, but like anything, there are certainly ways to make them less than ideal. Below are a couple tips to read before getting started!

  • Baking soda: Check the expiration date on your container before using. If the date has passed, it’ll be worth buying a new container so your muffins don’t end up flat!
  • Stirring: It’s important to stir this batter until it’s just combined. Over-mixing a muffin batter can give them very pointy tops and give them a tougher, less delicate texture.
  • Pumpkin: Be sure to use pumpkin puree and not the prepared pumpkin pie filling. Pumpkin puree is just that – pureed pumpkin!
  • Baking: Especially when making mini muffins, the timing is important. The amount of time it takes to fully cook these pumpkin mini muffins depends on your oven, your muffin tin, and how full the cavities are filled. If you leave them in the oven too long, they’ll begin to dry out.
A close up shot of a mini muffin with a bite taken out of it.

More Amazing Pumpkin Recipes

A pile of pumpkin churro mini muffins on a wooden tray.
5 from 8 votes

Pumpkin Churro Mini Muffins

Author: Kelsey
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 12 minutes
Total Time 22 minutes
16 servings (3 mini muffins each)
These moist mini muffins are perfectly spiced and full of pumpkin flavor. The cinnamon sugar coating gives them a delightful crunch to add to the texture!

Ingredients
 

  • 1 3/4 cups flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
  • 2 eggs
  • One 15 ounce can pumpkin puree
  • 1/2 cup butter melted

Cinnamon Sugar Coating

  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 375° and grease mini muffin tins*. (Makes about 48)
  • Combine the flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, salt and spice in a medium sized mixing bowl; set aside.
  • In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, pumpkin, and the melted (and slightly cooled) butter.
  • Stir in the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. (Don't overmix; batter will be thick)
  • Fill each muffin tin cavity about 3/4 full.
  • Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the a toothpick comes out clean (or with some moist crumbs stuck to it – but no gooey batter).
  • Let cool for a couple minutes before removing from the pan; let cool completely.
  • Combine the cinnamon and sugar. Roll the mini muffins into the mixture and serve!

Notes

*You can also make these in full sized muffin tins.  Fill each cavity about 2/3 full and bake for 12-15 minutes or until set.
 
*If the cinnamon sugar mixture doesn’t seem to stick to the muffins, you can give them a light mist of cooking spray (or dunk them in melted butter!) and then roll them into the cinnamon sugar.  

Nutrition

Serving: 3muffins | Calories: 210kcal | Carbohydrates: 37g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 35mg | Sodium: 134mg | Potassium: 34mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 25g | Vitamin A: 3627IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 25mg | Iron: 0.8mg
“Dance Around the Kitchen” is not a dietitian or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.

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A pile of pumpkin churro mini muffins. One has a bite taken out of it.

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Recipe Rating




18 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    Oh WOW Kelsey, these look so yummy!! Printing the recipe, I think my family will like these! And I’m with you, my seasonal loves are varied, but for sure Fall and Winter are my faves!! Happy Weekend Potluck!

      1. Heather Cain says:

        5 stars
        Hello, Christy! I l know you made these literally a year ago, so I don’t expect you to remember, but do you happen to recall if the prep time was at all labor intensive, or lengthy? Because the author lists prep time as a mere 10 minutes, but considering the long list of dry ingredients, my instinct tells me this could wind up taking well over 30 minutes; upwards of 45+! Thank you in advance for your assistance!

        1. Hi Heather – Kelsey from Dance Around the Kitchen here! If you have all of your ingredients close by, it really shouldn’t take more than 10-15 minutes. You can make them in a stand mixer, but even mixing by hand it’s a super easy recipe. Hope you enjoy!

  2. Perfect fall dessert! Churro is one of my favorites and this pumpkin churro is just amazing, ❤

  3. 5 stars
    Mini muffins are so much fun! These will be perfect for the neighborhood halloween party. The perfect size, and so on point with the theme!

  4. I can’t wait to make these. I love pumpkin everything.

  5. These Pumpkin Churro Mini Muffins are calling my name!!! They look sooo good!

  6. Excellent little muffins! If you let them completely cool, the cinnamon and sugar will not stick so either roll them while they’re warm, or dunk in melted butter before rolling in the cinnamon sugar!

  7. Stacey Vander Schoor says:

    5 stars
    I made these muffins this morning and they were amazing! I added mini chocolate chips to 1/2 the batter, not knowing if I’d like the addition or not. Both muffins (with and without chocolate chips) were wonderful. You were spot on – it made exactly 48 mini muffins. When I made them, the cinnamon and sugar coating didn’t stick to the muffins so I melted 3 tablespoons of butter and brushed it on each muffin and then coated in the cinnamon and sugar mixture. Now each muffin is covered in the yummy cinnamon and sugar. Yum!

  8. Is the butter supposed to be salted or unsalted?

  9. Kim Robertson says:

    I made these last evening. They’re delicious! I coated them in the cinnamon sugar but it was all melted this morning, as Kelsey said it would be. As a result, they were sticky making the cinn-sugar recoat really stick.
    Thanks for the recipe! Kim R.

  10. 5 stars
    Yum, I just whipped up a batch of these and they’re absolutely delicious, so moist and flavorful. Happy Autumn! Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe.