Many of us at my house are snackers. We love to have a little something between meals. One of the most tasty snacks we enjoy are Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins. Now notice I said tasty and not healthy. Just reading a list of the ingredients could give you a heart attack. They have the tiniest bit of pumpkin in them so they qualify as an okay snack in my book.
I first saw this recipe at Money Saving Mom. I made them last fall and the boys loved them. I tried to make them in the spring but couldn’t find pumpkin in a can anywhere. So this fall I got smart. I stockpiled probably 10 cans of pumpkin. Each time a new can came home my husband would look at the can and shake his head in disbelief. But believe you me, he enjoys these just as much as the boys. Plus, he’s the biggest snacker of all of us. I have trouble keeping snack foods around because of him.
Here’s the recipe (I’ll tell you how I have modified it a bit):
Made this recipe yesterday and it made 70 mini muffins
4 eggs
2 cups of sugar (yes, I said tasty, not healthy)
1 (16 ounce) can of pumpkin (I can only always find 15 oz.)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4cups vegetable oil (original recipe called for 1 1/2 cups) – it’s a ton of oil, maybe could substitute some of it for applesauce
3 cups flour (I use half white, half whole wheat)
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips (I put in a half bag of the mini chips)
1. In large mixing bowl beat eggs, sugar, pumpkin, vanilla, and oil until smooth.
2. Mix dry ingredients together and mix into pumpkin mixture. Fold in chocolate chips.
3. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups 3/4 full.
4. Bake at 400 degrees F for 16-20 minutes (9-11 minutes for the mini muffins)
I would love a new recipe for a different type of muffin. Let me know if you have a recipe and would like to share it.
OOOoooooo – thanks for posting! I have some leftover pumpkin in the freezer from one of those humongo cans that I bought for something else. Either pumpkin-pecan pie (have you tried that? yummy!) or pumpkin muffins also. At the time we were trying some dietary changes again to see if it would help Andy’s allergies – no sugar this time. So I made the muffins with Splenda (blech!); the boys liked them; Otto and I not so much. Alas, the no-sugar didn’t seem to help with the allergies, so we’re back to sugar (thank goodness!), albeit we’re monitoring intake a little more closely. These sound awesome. Also, I’ve been using flax seed oil in my baking over the past year. Lots of Omega-3, and in an recipe like this, you can’t tell a difference. (Something lighter you may want to use half flax and half of a plainer vegetable oil.)
I’ll get some flax seed oil the next time I have to buy oil. These kind of helpful hints are always my favorite because I find they don’t overwhelm me like a radical cooking change would.
Hey! Made the muffins yesterday – so good! I used the whole amount of flax seed oil, but realized that it might take some getting used to if you haven’t used it before. So, you might want to start half and half, even in this recipe. I remember when I started using it that’s what I did. And I still do sometimes. Thanks again!
I LOVE these muffins!! Feel free to send me some
I don’t think they will stay fresh by the time the postal service gets them to you:)
Our family doctor actually gave me this recipe – yummy and healthy!
Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
Dry Ingredients
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup wheat bran (I use All Bran cereal)
3/4 cup ground flaxseed
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips (I sometimes use white chips)
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon (may not need that much)
Wet ingredients
1.5 cups mashed banana (3-4 bananas)
3/4 cup dark brown sugar (I use golden yellow)
3/4 cup buttermilk (I use 1%, turns out ok)
1 egg
Heat oven to 400F (I use a lower temp, around 375F). In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, mash bananas and add rest of wet ingredients. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix til just combined. Spoon into muffin pan/cups. Bake for 18 minutes (give or take).
I find it makes almost 2 dozen muffins. Hope you enjoy!
P.S. Thanks for the pumpkin muffin recipe, I will be trying that one soon!
We will definitely try this – maybe this weekend when the pumpkin muffins are gone – my kids love banana bread so I’m sure this will go over well.
Jennifer- feel free to send me some pumpkin muffins and the banana muffins as well 🙂 Or, it’s supposed to be -2 degrees here this weekend, so might be a good time to cook
I’ve tried Heather’s banana muffins and they are super tasty – I’m sure you’ll all enjoy them. Looking forward to trying your recipe Jen, I’m always up for snacking as well. As for Derek being a Snack Monster – he always has been and what amazes me is how skinny he stays!!!
Mmmmm, I’m eating my way through these muffins now. Just have to make sure I beat the kids to them 🙂
Yum! These sound delicious! I totally stockpiled the pumpkin cans too.
My standby “muffin” recipe is:
1 box of Devil’s Food cake mix
1 can of pumkin
1 cup of choc chips (whichever variety… I like half dark/half semi-sweet)
Preheat to 350. Stir together. Pour into muffin pan. I do mini muffins for abt 17 minutes, but you could do standard muffins or a 9×9 pan at the same temp for a bit longer.