Sweet potato muffins with pecan topping are perfect for autumn mornings on-the-go. They’re like having a Thanksgiving side dish in muffin form.
As much as I like to hover over my hot cup of coffee and savor the morning, some days are a little more rushed than others. This recipe is great for days where you crave the soothing feeling of being wrapped up in a warm blanket lingering over a hot beverage, but in reality you have to get out the door quick. Take a couple of these wholesome treats with you for a boost of energy you’ll need to face the day.
Sweet Potato Muffins Origins
This recipe for Sweet Potato Muffins was sent to me from Mitch at the Beaufort Inn in South Carolina. I just checked their site and they’re fairing well after the hurricane! Thank goodness. Anyway, he’s had a lot of practice making breakfast over the years, even before life as an Innkeeper. Sundays used to be his only day off and he would make something delicious in the morning for his daughter and a houseful of her friends. Lucky girls!
Recipe Tweaks
One of the things I love most about Fall (well, besides the cooler weather, holidays, festivals, and everything decorated in my favorite color – orange) are the spices! Clove. Cinnamon. Nutmeg. Allspice. Ginger. They all seem to bring with them a feeling of comfort and warmth. For the next three months I’ll be baking up a storm using every combination of these delightful spices.
These muffins have two of those spices, cinnamon and clove. Plus, a bit of flax seed which will help you feel full longer and give you some extra energy. I’ve played around with this recipe over the years (we originally posted this in 2009), and I’ve tweaked it just a bit, adding pecans and omitting the cranberries. But I’ve saved those different variations for you in the notes below the recipe. Enjoy!
A snapshot of ingredients …
Flax seed is the secret ingredient that makes these little muffins wholesome, hearty, filling and delish. But don’t over indulge our you’ll experience what I call a flax-itive.
I grind my flax seed in a small coffee mill grinder. It does the trick pretty good.
After grinding the flax seed, add them to your flour and spice mixture and mix well. Next, beat the eggs in a separate bowl.
Add your eggs, oil, and honey to the flour/flax/spice bowl.
This is going to get real thick, real fast. I don’t recommend using a mixer or beater, or else your muffins will fall flat. Instead just a fork will do, and just fold the batter together.
The honey combined with the flax seed makes this a thick and hearty stick-to-your-gut kind of muffin. No fluffy pastry here. This is a get outside and go hiking-climbing-fall-leaf-collecting-pumpkin-picking kind of breakfast. Eat your heart out Kashi.
Fold in the nuts, cranberries and sweet potatoes. Do you feel like you’re making your own super food bar yet? The recipes I post are usually not the healthy kind. Bookmark this one for when you get into the thick of the holidays full of butter and sugar and crave a less guilt-ridden snack. Just remember … don’t over indulge.
Scoop the gooey wholesome goodness into greased muffin pans. I like to add a little flour too. It makes them pop out really easy and creates a little crust on the edge. You can also use paper or foil muffin cups.
Let the sweet potato muffins cool on a wire rack and enjoy! Pack them with you for a hike, fall festival, or to just get you through the work week. If you like these, you might also want to try pumpkin muffins with cream cheese, or our easy one bowl pumpkin bread.
Sweet Potato Muffins
Sweet Potato Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 Cups white flour
- 1/2 Cup ground flax seed
- 1/2 Cup honey
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1/2 cup oil
- 2 cups sweet potatoes, baked
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 1/2 cup chopped pecans (1/2 cup for topping)
- 2 Tbsp turbinado sugar (for topping)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees
- Wash 2 sweet potatoes and poke holes in skin with fork. Wrap the sweet potatoes in foil and bake for 45 minutes to an hour until soft.
- Using a wire whisk, mix dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, ground flax seeed and spices) in large bowl.
- Beat eggs in a separate bowl. Blend honey and oil in with the eggs, then pour mixture into the bowl with flour.
- Scoop the baked sweet potato out of the skins and measure out two cups. Add the sweet potato and one cup of the pecans to batter (set aside the remaining half cup for topping) Fold the mixture together by hand using a large spoon or fork.
- Spoon muffin batter into greased muffin pan (or muffin cups). Sprinkle tops of muffins with remaining pecans and turbinado sugar and bake for 25 to 30 minutes until golden.
- Cool on a wire rack for 15 to 20 minutes, then serve!
Notes
I like to use pecans since it reminds me of a sweet potato casserole. But you could also use walnuts, or even add a cup of dried cranberries too.
If you'd like the muffins to be more sweet and dessert-like, replace the honey with 3/4 cup of sugar.
You can substitute apple sauce for the oil.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 372Total Fat: 22gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 19gCholesterol: 31mgSodium: 134mgCarbohydrates: 41gFiber: 5gSugar: 17gProtein: 6g
Nutrition information provided is only an estimate.
More Recipes You’ll Love!
- Cherry Almond Oatmeal Bake
- Easy One Bowl Pumpkin Bread
- Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
- Lemon Blueberry Muffins
- Quick and Easy Microwave Oatmeal
- How To Make Pancakes From Scratch
- Oatmeal Apple Smoothie
- Nova Scotia Oatcakes
- Stuffed French Toast
Want to save this recipe for later? Pin it!
Originally published on Inn The Kitchen, 09/09/09.
Rachelle,
Wow, what a nice presentation and great web site! No wonder the girls liked my muffins. Julie and I are moving to a real apartment next week after spending the last year on site at the small Caretaker’s Cottage. So we will have a real kitchen again. I will have to visit your site often to get ideas and I will pass along your site address to anyone I think would be interested.
Thanks,
Mitch
Beautiful post. The colors definitely remind me of how wonderful this time of year is, with the leaves changing and all. I want to make these and have saved them in my recipe box. Thanks!
muffin beautiful … I never tried the sweet potatoes but I will .. I like your photo sequence
These look fantastic! I love the idea of leaving the sweet potatoes in chunks instead of pureeing or grating (which is what I’ve always done in the past), and the cranberries and walnuts sound like the perfect mix-ins. Definitely going to give this one a go next time I’m in the mood for some muffins.
The finish product looks really good! Also packed with omega 3. what more can you ask for?:)
Delicious and very healthful muffins!
OMGosh! Beautiful photos and those muffins look like a lil bit of heaven. Thanks for sharing!
actually they are yams not sweet potatoes
Your first paragraph perfectly sums up my feelings on fall! The muffins look and sound delicious. Thanks for sharing!
Such a lovely bake! Sweet potato muffins sounds delicious. Great job!
Such a lovely bake! Sweet potato muffins sound delicious. Great job!
They look so good! x
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OMG–I LOVE sweet potato muffins. This recipe looks good. I’m making lemon bread this weekend, but I must try this recipe next. Mmm, mmm!