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I have lived in so many different places in the United States. I never had too much of a green thumb but when we moved here, I started my journey into trying my hand at having a garden and growing all the beautiful things because the climate makes for quite a bounty when you know what you are doing (and there is something so fulfilling about growing your own food). We live in the South now which is a prime growing area considering how much sun and rain we get. Last year, I had no idea what I was doing and grew almost nothing. That was definitely bad news, but the good news was that I learned and tried again (and also there are so many really great farmers here, I could buy all my local produce at the mom & pop farmers markets!). This year was a massive improvement and the thing I most definitely want to grow next year is sweet potatoes as I don’t know if they just taste better here or I am crazy, but I love them more than most other vegetables. I have made so many different sweet potato recipes since moving to this state and this is one of them: My Vegan & Gluten Free Sweet Potato Pecan Muffins
The grocery store sweet potatoes of course are good enough (or as Ina says “store bought is fine”) but if y’all can get yourself some locally grown sweet potatoes, they honestly do not compare. There is a natural sweetness to them, they are buttery and wholesome and make for some of the best sweet potato recipes like sweet potato casserole, mashed sweet potatoes and more. The addition of the sweet potato puree into this recipe makes for some gorgeous fluffy muffins that have a pretty fall hue color and are among the comfort foods you didn’t know you needed until now. The pecan streusel on top? The nutty flavor & warm spices are a match made in heaven for these amazing muffin recipe
Short on time? I’ve used canned sweet potato puree and it works great too (I’ve just become a sweet potato snob in the last few years). Try this one if you can’t find it at your local grocery store (again: store-bought versions are fine!):
Canned Sweet Potato Puree
Vegan Gluten Free Sweet Potato Pecan Muffins
Ingredients
Prepare Sweet Potatoes
- 425 g sweet potato puree (2-3ish whole sweet potato)
Toast Pecans
- 160 g pecans, toasted & chopped coarsely (10g to top each muffin)
Crumble Topping
- 113 g plant butter (I use Natural Grocers Plant Butter or Earth Balance)
- 130 g brown sugar (can sub coconut sugar)
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp pink salt
- 210 g oat flour
Muffin Batter
- 175 g applesauce, unsweetened
- 120 g oat milk (I've subbed other plant milks with success: coconut milk & soy milk)
- 150 g plant butter, melted
- 220 g brown sugar (can sub coconut sugar)
- 200 g cane sugar
- 4 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (can also use apple pie spice or nutmeg)
- 1 tsp pink salt (I use Kirklands)
- 250 g gluten free all purpose flour (I use King Arthur Measure for Measure)
- 250 g oat flour
Instructions
Prepare Sweet Potatoes
- Preheat oven to 450℉. Prick your sweet potatoes with the tines of a fork and put your potatoes on a sheet pan. Bake your sweet potatoes (if not using canned puree) for an hour or until potatoes are tender & easy to mash. Scoop out the inside of the potato into a medium bowl and mash thoroughly (can also use a food processor to make sure there are no lumps). Set aside
- Preheat your oven to 350℉. Line two muffin pans with 16 muffin cup liners.
Toast Pecans, optional but recommended
- Line a sheet pan or cast iron with parchment paper (for easy cleanup). Place your pecans on this pan and toast in your oven for 10-12 minutes. They should start to smell nutty when they are ready. Pull from the oven and set aside.
Make Crumble, optional but recommended
- In a medium bowl, combine your crumble ingredients if making. Add your vegan butter with your brown sugar, cinnamon, & salt. Cream all of these together with a hand mixer until completely combined.
- Add your oat flour. Mix slowly until it resembles a coarse crumb. Place this crumble topping in your freezer until ready to use.
Make Muffin Batter
- In a large microwave safe bowl, melt your butter.
- Once melted, add your wet ingredients: sweet potato puree, applesauce, oat milk, brown sugar and cane sugar. Whisk together thoroughly.
- Add your dry ingredients to the large bowl: baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, salt, gluten-free flour, and oat flour. Whisk until no clumps of flour remain in the batter.
- Using a scale and a cookie scoop (for easiest portioning), portion out 4 oz of batter into each muffin cup.
- Top each muffin cup with crumb topping and 10g of crushed pecans (this is normally about 2-3 pecans).
- Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. The tops should look slightly golden brown.
- Pull from the oven, let cool completely and enjoy! Store in an airtight container for best results (or eat before the fall time of year is gone!)
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