These mini pecan pie muffins are topped with buttered pecans and drizzled with a brown sugar caramel sauce. They are incredibly moist and taste like pecan pie. Oh my goodness, they are soooo delicious! You won’t be able to eat just one. They are perfect for breakfast, brunch or holiday parties.
If you like pecan pie, you will fall madly in love with these mini treats. It’s hard to believe anything so good could be so simple, easy and yummy! I’ll be making these by the dozens all during the holidays. Once you take a bite, you will be too!
I enjoy making these in my mini muffin pans but you can certainly make them as regular size muffins as well. If you make them regular size, bake them 7 to 10 minutes longer.
These Caramel Pecan Pie Muffins Are
- Great for breakfast or brunch
- Perfect for the holiday season
- Delicious with coffee
- The perfect hostess gift or Christmas gift
- Easy to whip up in a hurry
Now before we go any further, let’s talk about the sauce. You can make the muffins without the caramel sauce, but you’ll really be missing out on something very good. I think the caramel sauce takes the muffins to another level. The sauce is super easy to make, and if you have any extra, it’s marvelous drizzled over vanilla ice cream.
For the caramel drizzle, all you need is 3 ingredients, brown sugar, butter and heavy cream or milk. If I don’t have heavy cream on hand, I use milk and it’s perfectly fine. I want you to make the sauce and not stress out about whether you use heavy cream or milk. The buttered pecans on top of the muffins adds more deliciousness and an extra crunch too.
One of the things that I love about this recipe is that it calls for simple, basic ingredients. You probably have all the things in your refrigerator or pantry to whip up a batch right now.
Here’s what you will need to make these mini muffins
- 1 cup light brown sugar, plus ¾ for caramel sauce
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup chopped pecans, plus extra pecan halves for garnishing the muffin tops.
- ⅔ cup butter (11 tablespoons) (6 tablespoons) for buttered pecans and caramel sauce
- 2 eggs
- Vanilla extract
- Heavy cream or whole milk for caramel sauce
- Mini muffin pan/ vegetable spray to grease pan or mini muffin paper cups or tins
How To Make Caramel Pecan Muffins
- In a small skillet, lightly toast the pecan halves in butter. Set aside for later when the muffins are done.
- Mix dry ingredients together. Light brown sugar, all-purpose flour and baking soda.
- Beat wet ingredients together. Eggs, melted butter and vanilla extract.
- Combine the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients. Add the chopped pecans.
- Fill muffin cups to the top with the muffin batter. Bake at 350 degrees for about 7 to 8 minutes.
- Make Brown Sugar Caramel Sauce. Place a buttered pecan half on each muffin and drizzle caramel sauce over muffins.
- Store in an airtight container. Muffins will keep up to 7 or they can be frozen for up to 2 months.
I hope you enjoy these Caramel Pecan Muffins as much as my family and I have. One thing for sure, as they start to bake, your house will smell absolutely wonderful!
Caramel Pecan Pie Muffins
Prep Time: 15 minutes- Cook Time: 7 to 8 minutes
- Total Time: -28568255.516667 minute
Yield: 18 to 20 mini muffins
Category: Desserts
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Pin RecipeIngredients
For the muffins
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- ⅔ cup (11 tablespoons) of butter, melted
- 2 eggs, beaten
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
For the Brown Sugar Caramel Sauce and Buttered Pecans
- 18 to 20 pecan halves
- 6 tablespoons butter, divided
- ¾ cup light brown sugar
- ¼ cup heavy cream or whole milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease mini muffin pan or line with foil liners.
- In a large bowl, mix together sugar, flour, baking powder and chopped pecans.
- In another bowl, combine melted butter, beaten eggs, vanilla and stir into the brown sugar (dry ingredients) mixture. Mix with a wooden spoon just until moistened. (Don’t over stir)
- Spoon batter into the prepared muffin pan. Bake for 7 to 8 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- While the muffins are cooling, toast the pecans. In a large skillet, melt 2 tablespoons of butter with the pecan halves over low heat. Cook for about 2 minutes or until pecans are lightly toasted.
- To make the Brown Sugar Caramel Sauce, In a heavy saucepan, bring the remaining ¼ cup of butter, brown sugar and heavy cream to a boil and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and drizzle over muffins and top with buttered pecan halves.
Notes
Do ahead/Freeze Tip: Muffins with keep up to 7 days in an airtight container and will freeze up to 2 months.
Recipe Note: These muffins are delicious with fresh fruit for breakfast. They freeze so well too. You can keep a batch frozen and on busy mornings, it’s a snap to pop a few in the microwave to warm.
Yum