I know it’s only Labor Day and summer isn’t over yet and pumpkin is thought of as a fall food. Trust me, I’m not trying to wish away the last bits of summer. But when I made these on a whim a couple of weeks ago and my family devoured them and then all the other batches I made in preparation for this blog post disappeared just as quickly (four batches in total), I realized I had a hit on my hands.
So season be damned, just make the muffins! They’re just that good. Or if you’re too busy or not in a baking mood (does that really happen to people?!?) then go ahead and pin the recipe to your Pinterest board and make them when the mood strikes.
The key to the moistness and depth of flavor in this recipe is the dark brown sugar (you can use light brown if that’s all you have) and the coconut oil.
When I first made them, I wanted to use refined coconut oil because I didn’t want the coconut taste to overpower the pumpkin. But all I had was unrefined and made them anyway and they were delicious. So use whichever coconut oil you’ve got handy and they’ll be great. Since you’re mixing the wet ingredients by hand, make sure your coconut oil is melty enough to blend with your pumpkin.
And really, a whole bag of chocolate chips never hurts anything, does it?
Chocolate Studded Pumpkin Muffins
Yield: 18 muffins
2 cups flour 2 teaspoons baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice 15 oz canned pumpkin (1 full can) 1/2 sugar 1 cup dark brown sugar 1/2 cup coconut oil, nearly melted 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 bag mini chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and either spray muffin pans with non-stick spray or line with muffin papers.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside.
In a large bowl, stir together the pumpkin, coconut oil, eggs and vanilla, mixing thoroughly to make sure no clumps of coconut oil remain. Add in the sugar and brown sugar and mix until sugar is dissolved.
Gently fold the flour mixture and the chocolate chips into the pumpkin mixture and stir until well blended.
Fill muffin cups about 2/3 full of batter and bake for 22 minutes.
These also make fabulous mini-muffins, which take about 12 minutes to bake.