

Cheater Pumpkin Muffins: It only takes three simple ingredients and 30 minutes to make Super Easy Cheater Pumpkin Muffins. They’re ready almost as soon as you get a craving for them!
Sometimes a girl needs a pumpkin muffin for breakfast, and she needs to be eating it in half an hour. And she doesn’t need to be measuring a lot of ingredients and looking to see if she has an orange to zest or a nutmeg grater or, in general, thinking too hard. She just needs that muffin.
She needs this no-brainer recipe, which will have a fresh pumpkin muffin in your hands in 30 minutes, tops, and that includes heating the oven and baking time.
Three ingredients. That’s all this girl needs.
Proof of how good they are? Check out this note, jotted and left on the counter by my then 14-year-old daughter after someone else ate the last of these muffins. I rest my case.
(And yes, let me assure you it feels really special to be called a slacker by your own kid! At least I got a heart and a happy face icon out of it. Note to self: teach her to make them.)
How to make Cheater Pumpkin Muffins
As always, first assemble your ingredients. There are only 3 main ingredients, so it should be easy to find them!
Mix them in a bowl and portion them into lined muffin pans.
The recipe makes 12 muffins, with a fine, dense crumb. The recipe is correct…there are no eggs and no additional liquid added.
You can see the crumb in the photo above.
Shall we get Cheater Pumpkin Muffins in the oven?
Cheater Pumpkin Muffins: It only takes three simple ingredients and 30 minutes to make Super Easy Cheater Pumpkin Muffins. They’re ready almost as soon as you get a craving for them!
Ingredients
- 1 (18.25-ounce) box spice cake mix (any brand you like)
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (or 1/4 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. allspice, 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg, 1/8 tsp. cloves)
- 1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin puree (pure pumpkin, not pumpkin pie mix)
- Garnish: candy pumpkin sprinkles (I used the variety from Sweets & Treats), and tube of icing to act as "glue" (optional)
Directions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 regular-size muffin tins with paper liners.
- Add all ingredients to a mixing bowl and stir, either by hand or using an electric mixer. Mix just until combined. Spoon into paper-lined muffin cups. Cups will be full; don’t worry, they won’t overflow.
- Bake at 350F degrees for 18-20 minutes.
- Remove from oven and cool on a cooling rack, until room temperature. If desired, attach candy decorations with a dot of icing from a tube. A word to the wise -- if you are using candy pumpkins as I did, do NOT put them on before baking. I learned the hard way that they will melt. Bake the muffins and affix the candy decorations with a tiny dot of frosting from a tube, and you'll be good to go!
- Makes 12 muffins.
Notes
Recipe source: Dorothy Reinhold | Shockingly Delicious.
Quick note: This is not a misprint. There are no eggs or added liquid. This makes a delicious, dense, fine-crumbed muffin.
Mini muffins: To make mini muffins: Spray 36 mini muffin cups with non-stick spray (or use tiny paper muffin cups), fill with batter and bake for about 15 minutes.
Another decoration: Before baking, lightly press four pieces of diced, crystallized ginger into the top of each muffin. Why four? One for each bite of muffin! Or lightly press a pecan half or a walnut half into the top of each muffin.
Cranberry variation: Stir 1/2 cup chopped fresh cranberries into the batter before baking, as shown here.
Pin the image below for Cheater Pumpkin Muffins to your Pinterest board to save this recipe
A version of this recipe was originally published here Oct. 29, 2011, and has been refreshed, refined and republished today.
Here’s what it a Cheater Pumpkin Muffin looks like with candied ginger on top! ↓
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These are on my must-make list!
These look simply fantastic I can’t wait to try this!
This recipe looks great and I have all of the ingredients on hand as well. Looking forward to making these! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Unbelievably easy! And how adorable is that note??
Liren,
The note absolutely is the star.
I can’t wait to try this recipe! I love how easy it is – and I’m so curious about it since it doesn’t have any traditional liquid in it. And I adore your daughter’s note. Absolutely love it.
Susan,
It shocked me when it worked! I think there is enough liquid in the pumpkin to make it happen.
Turned out perfectly! The amount of pumpkin spice was just right!
Stephanie,
GREAT! So glad you liked them!
Got to try this . very easy.
Shirley,
I was surprised at how good they were. And easy, of course.
These were excellent! I went with Yellow cake mix instead of the spice cake simply because the only Spice Cake mix was Duncan Hines and it’s more calories. The Betty Crocker box sizes are smaller now (15. something oz) but I used just the mix and pumpkin. WOW! These are excellent! They were full of pumpkin goodness with (because the mix I used) a hint of birthday cake, lol. I was super surprised at the texture. The were so moist! I expected them to be…well, dense. Like when you make banana bread and don’t use enough leavener but these were just perfect! Thank you for feeding my pumpkin addiction. FYI, MFP has mine at 148 cals per muffin if you make a dozen from the recipe.
Koreena,
I agree with you about the texture…I had expected more dense, but they were surprisingly light textured! Next time try the spice if you like. It adds more…spice!
These were amazing and sooooo easy. They look like they are about 4 ww plus point. Love love love them
Amanda,
I know, right? Good to know about the WW points.
I stumbled over this recipe an hour ago now their baking in the oven and may I say they smell really yummy..thanks for giving us this recipe..I’m sureee my boyfriend will love em.
These are great! If you also mix together some of the pumpkin pie spice with some brown sugar and sprinkle it on top of the muffins it is awesome! Thanks for sharing such a easy and great recipe!
These are great! My 8 & 10 year old kids love to make them on their own – a treat for them and something I can serve at parent meetings. They prefer them with carrot cake mix… We now keep the ingredients on hand at all times. Thanks for sharing a great, easy recipe!
Happy New Year. GREG
Allspice!?!? I’m just sayin’….consider these made!
What luscious muffins! Glad to cook along with you on this event. thanks for sharing the yummy recipe!
Thank you for participating! Welcome to the Squash Love Blog Hop! ;-)!
Scrumptious, super cute and easy ! Nice meeting you through bloghop!
Thank you for sharing your fabulous recipe on “A Little Birdie Told Me…” Tuesday at Rook No. 17!
I can’t wait to see what you have in store this week!
Cheers!
Jenn
Looks super fast and delicious! I love recipes like that because while I appreciate a more gourmet meal every now and then… Let’s be real… There are days where a mom just has to put things together quick!
Won’t you stop by to read my spooky tale and recipe for The Clockmaker’s Popcorn? http://castlesandcarriages.blogspot.com/2011/10/clockmakers-caramel-popcorn.html
Jen.
Absolutely, keeping it real is needed most days!
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