Jennifer Garner Loves These Pumpkin Maple Muffins—After Trying Them, I Can See Why

Adriana Chavez

Tue, September 16, 2025 at 3:45 PM UTC

4 min read

Jennifer Garner shares her favorite pumpkin maple muffin recipe on her social media cooking show, highlighting the muffins' lightness, autumnal flavors, and use of brown butter.
The recipe calls for a mix of all-purpose and whole wheat flour, brown sugar, maple syrup, and a blend of spices like cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg, creating a flavorful and slightly sweet muffin perfect for cozy fall mornings.
Reviewers note that the muffins are soft, flavorful, and sweet, with the option to adjust the sweetness by reducing the amount of brown sugar used in the recipe, making them a delicious and hearty breakfast option for the fall season.

Jennifer Garner is a true "girl next door." Whether she's dancing to Michael Jackson's "Thriller" in 13 Going on 30 , deciding between shades of yellow paint in Juno or destroying a heart-shaped piñata in Valentine's Day , she's known for her wholesome, unpretentious vibes, which seem to translate to real life.

As we enter fall, or what I like to call peak rom-com season , I was inspired to try a recipe from one of the best rom-com actresses. Thankfully, I didn't have to look too far. In recent years, Garner has brought her charm from the big screen to the very small screen.

In addition to acting in iconic films, co-founding the organic baby food brand Once Upon a Farm and asking "What's in Your Wallet?" in all of those Capital One commercials, Garner also hosts what she calls the "Pretend Cooking Show" on her social media channels.

The casual video series invites fans into her kitchen, where she humorously shares her favorite recipes. Highlights include whipping up chicken chilli , 10-grain bread , and lemon olive oil cake . Her mom is a frequent guest in her videos, making beloved childhood recipes like chiffon pie and creamed corn . And, a lover of Ina Garten recipes , Jennifer has even collaborated with Queen Ina herself to make cacio e pepe scrambled eggs .

Last year, Garner shared a video of herself making Alison Roman's Pumpkin Maple Muffins , a recipe from NYT Cooking . The video features many adorable moments, including the actress extraordinaire worrying about not having turmeric and appearances from her golden retriever, Birdie.

I watched the video on loop, but one watch was enough to inspire me to kick off my fall baking with these autumnal muffins approved by Jennifer Garner herself. Read on to learn all about her go-to pumpkin maple muffins and how this recipe turned out in my kitchen.

Why Jennifer Garner Loves These Pumpkin Muffins

Jennifer says these muffins are "light" and "not too sweet," perfect for cozy mornings with kids. The muffin recipe has a bit more fiber than many others because it uses equal parts all-purpose flour and whole wheat flour. They're also sweetened with both brown sugar and maple syrup, a combination that amps up the autumnal flavor even more. And we mustn't forget the brown butter , which is known for infusing a complex and nutty taste into any dish it touches.

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Ingredients You Need to Make Jennifer Garner's Favorite Pumpkin Maple Muffins

To make Jennifer's favorite muffins (aka Alison Roman's Pumpkin Maple Muffins), you'll need butter, all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, kosher salt, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, ground turmeric, ground nutmeg, pumpkin purée, large eggs, brown sugar and a splash of maple syrup.

How to Make Jennifer Garner's Favorite Pumpkin Maple Muffins

The recipe comes together in a few quick steps. If you've never browned butter before, it's actually quite simple. Melt the butter over medium heat, stirring occasionally until it starts to form and turn brown. "When it smells nutty, stop right away because it can go from nutty to burnt so quickly," Garner says in the video.

Set aside the butter and mix the flours, baking powder, baking soda and spices in a bowl. Whisk the remaining wet ingredients in a second bowl and add the dry ingredients to the wet. Lastly, mix in the brown butter . Divide the batter into a 12-cup muffin tin (or two 6-cup tins, as I did) and bake at 350° for 20 minutes.

My Honest Review

These muffins are pillowy soft with a depth of flavor from the autumnal spices, brown butter and maple syrup. I noticed that the brown butter flavor was very faint when I ate the muffins cold, so I'd recommend reheating any leftovers. As Jennifer notes in the video, the recipe makes quite a lot of batter for just 12 muffins. I like large, bakery-style muffins, so I pack a lot of batter into each muffin tin. If you prefer smaller muffins, you can make 18 instead of 12. I actually found the muffins to be quite sweet, so I would reduce the brown sugar by a third in the future.

Why You Should Make These Muffins

If you're looking for a pumpkin muffin recipe that's not basic, this is the one for you. The brown butter and the blend of spices really take this recipe up a notch. I especially loved the ginger, which gave the muffins a gingerbread-like quality. With hearty, wholesome ingredients like pumpkin and whole-wheat flour (that, by the way, I couldn't taste at all), they're a wonderful breakfast to start a chilly fall morning.

This story was originally reported by Parade on Sep 16, 2025, where it first appeared in the Food & Drink section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.