I’ll confess, I’ve never been a huge pumpkin person. Pie, spiced lattes, bread, etc. make some people go wild with the advent of pumpkin season but I’ve never thought I was one of them. That is, until I had my first pumpkin chocolate chip muffin.
Enter, the perfect combination of that slight pumpkin taste of fall, with chocolatey goodness. Obviously, these muffins are not a health food. However, I did scour various health food websites to create a healthier version of your classic muffin – without all the extreme health food ingredients I at least don’t have stocked on my shelf (insert name of whatever obscure flour here).
BEST FOR: Adult trick or treaters aka winning over your deskmates at work or school, Thanksgiving, and/or spicing up am otherwise sad fall day.
INGREDIENTS
- Baking spray
- Muffin tins and liners
- 3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
- 1.5 cups raw or cane sugar
- 1.5 tsp baking soda
- 4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 cups canned pumpkin puree
- 4 tbsp canola or virgin coconut oil
- 2 large eggs (or 4 egg whites)
- 4 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 bag of chocolate chips or chunks
DIRECTIONS
Makes 24 large muffins or 48 mini muffins.
- Make sure you have muffin tins and muffin paper liners. Sounds like a silly first step- but I have incorrectly assumed and found myself with a large vat of batter with nowhere to go before.
- Next, preheat the oven to 350°F. Line your muffin tin with liners and lightly spray so the muffins don’t stick. Do not overdo it on the spraying either, however, because then your muffins will peel away from the liners and look greasy.
- Combine your flour, sugar, baking soda, pumpkin spice, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl. Use a hand whisk for this- nothing electric yet.
- In a separate, larger bowl, put the pumpkin puree, oil, egg and vanilla. Using an electric mixer (I have a hand mixer) on a low to medium speed, beat until thick. Do not over mix! Make sure your bowl is large enough to fit the dry mixture as well for the next step.
- Add dry mixture from the medium bowl into the wet mixture in your larger bowl. Using the same blender on a low speed, mix until combined. Again, do not over mix. Pour in your chocolate chips and stir with a wooden spoon.
- The muffins should stay good in an airtight container for up to a week. As they start to get stale, consider microwaving them and having a warm muffin to preserve the life span – though if yours are as popular as the ones I made were, they won’t last even close to a week!
Enjoy!
The Carmel Kama'aina 