Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Recipe challenge, week thirty-eight.

This is nothing new because I feel like I talk about these muffins every fall.

Do you, like me, fear running out of pumpkin?  Our first year in Alaska, there was a pumpkin shortage and that was slightly terrifying.  I don't remember it affecting me directly but I remember people talking about it.  To this day, I keep several cans in the pantry during the fall months.  Just in case.

Our first year in Alaska was also the year I started making these muffins at least twice a fall season.  It's Scott's mom's recipe and I don't actually know where she got it, but we love these muffins.  I've done them as mini-muffins too.

I'm cheating (again) this week and sharing a tried-and-true recipe simply because I made them for a cake walk at the school carnival this past week and I'm making them again, as I type, because I just seriously love them.  I would update with a picture but they're not done yet so maybe later.

Other things I could've put on Instagram this weekend but didn't: ice cream twice in one day, a hike up the Manitou Incline, and Jett goes to obedience school.  All will be discussed on the blog this week.  Eh, maybe not the ice cream thing. That's self-explanatory.

Cheers to Sunday night.  Kind of.  Go make these muffins. I like to eat them for breakfast with peanut butter.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Dry ingredients:
3 1/3 c. flour 
2 T. pumpkin pie spice
2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
Mix together and set aside

Wet ingredients:
2 eggs
1 can pumpkin (15 oz)
1/2 c. oil
1 1/2 c. sugar

Blend the wet ingredients with a mixer and add the dry ingredients in 3 batches. You can use up to 1/2 c. of milk to thin the batter if necessary. It should be thick when it's all mixed together.

Add 1 c. of mini chocolate chips. Stir and spoon into a muffin pan. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Maple Donut Muffins

I'm writing this post at 5:47am, as I finish the series finale of Mad Men.  I can't watch stuff like this on Sunday night before I go to bed.  I need time to process.

Thoughts can be discussed via email...no spoilers from me!  (at least until Thursday-ish)

Recipe challenge, week twenty.

It's a teeny bit lopsided there.

In May 2011, we took a trip to Fairbanks for our anniversary.  We stopped in Talkeetna, Alaska to spend the night.  For coffee in the morning, we went to the Flying Squirrel Bakery and had some donut muffins. They were huge and I'm pretty sure there is still cinnamon sugar in the cupholders of that Hyundai Sonata (wherever it may be).

I will say that I would not classify myself as a pastry person. I don't eat a lot of donuts because I just don't see the point.  Like, if I want dessert, I'll have dessert.  If I want breakfast, I'll have breakfast.  I don't really see the need to combine the two.  A semi-responsible breakfast is a license to eat dessert anyway.  You start the day off right...and it all goes downhill from there.

However, I will always remember that fluffy, sweet donut muffin.  When a dear blog friend (who no longer blogs...ahem) suggested I try out one of those donut recipes she'd been making lately, I decided to adapt one of them and change them into muffins.  Per usual, I felt the need to make things a little healthier...because it is breakfast after all.  Or Saturday night dinner in my case.  Oh well.

If you're a hypochondriac like I am*, and feel the need to limit dairy intake, this is the recipe for you. It's dairy-free and can probably be tweaked to vegan with a flax-egg. 

*Or a person with a legitimate dairy allergy.  I do not believe I have a serious intolerance and I understand that many people do.  End of disclaimer.  

Maple Donut Muffins
makes 6 muffins or 12 mini-muffins
loosely adapted from this recipe

1 cup flour
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. nutmeg
1/8 t. salt

1/2 cup milk + 1 t. apple cider vinegar (I used unsweetened coconut milk)
1 egg
1 T. oil
1/2 t. vanilla
1/2 t. maple extract
1/4 cup sugar

Melted butter spread (or just butter) for brushing
Cinnamon/sugar for sprinkling

In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients and toss together lightly.  Add in the milk, egg, oil, extracts, and sugar.  With a hand mixer, blend well to get out all the lumps.

Spoon into a greased muffin pan and bake at 375 for 20 minutes.  When a toothpick comes out clean, they are done.  Before removing from the pan, brush the tops with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar.  Let cool.

These taste best right away, when the tops are nice and crispy.  The flavor is still there the next day, but the crispiness isn't there.  But this is probably because I stored them in a container with a cover.

Recipe Re-do: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins + 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies

I'm linking this recipe to 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies.  Check out the linked-up blogs and start thinking about what delicious treats you'll be making this year!

My first posted recipe.  Actually this is probably the first thing I baked when we moved to Alaska two years ago.  Second was pumpkin cookies (coming soon!).  Third was Hershey's Kiss cookies (also coming soon!). 

Scott's mom makes these.  They are healthy(ish) and yummy at the same time.  Everything you want in a breakfast treat.

Speaking of convenient breakfast foods...

Do you ever look inside that sterile-and-looks-kinda-vacuum-sealed glass case of pastries at Starbucks??

I do.

And I think, "I could make you and you and you and you and, oh, you too banana bread, for less calories and fat and mine will taste better too, so I'll just take my nonfat white chocolate mocha and be on my way thankyouverymuch."

In addition to Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins (which would probably go just a little too perfectly with a Pumpkin Spice Latte), try any number of my desserts/cakes/pastries.  While I may prefer to buy my coffee from a coffee shop (a habit I am determined to soon break), I like to make my own baked goods.  They're preservative free and I know what went into them.

Or just go eat a Clif bar.  At least you'd get some nutrients that way.

Please, just don't order out of the sterile glass case.  Take your $12 latte and run.


Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins. 

Also being shared at:

Sweet Treats Thursday

Coffee and Conversation Thursday

Sweet Tooth Friday 

Sweets for Saturday 

Tuesday Talent Show 

Crumbs and Chaos: Seasonal Inspiration

Banana Chocolate Protein Muffins

My latest thing is Clif Bars.  It was never my goal to adopt this expensive habit, but alas...here we are.  I bought a large box of them at Costco.  Why?

Well, I like to know that I have something with me to eat while on the road (i.e. out shopping for the day, running errands, etc.) that will have good-for-me ingredients, tastes good, and will fill me up.  Especially because I always seem to be out and about around a mealtime.  Clif bars pretty much fit this description.

However, they are rather...calorie-laden.  About 240 per bar.  So that's not a snack.  That's more like a meal replacement and I've taken to eating one for lunch with Greek yogurt a couple of times a week.

So I wanted something with protein and flavor without quite so many calories.  I'm one of those who are guilty of not eating breakfast because it's really early and I'm just not quite feeling hungry yet.  If I have something I can take with me to eat right before school starts, the world would be an easier place for me to exist in.  I'm sure of it.

Banana Chocolate Protein Muffins

makes 12 muffins

1-2 ripe, mashed bananas

1 1/4 cups flour

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 scoop (about 1/8 a cup) of chocolate whey protein powder

1/3 cup sugar

3/4 t. baking soda

2 egg whites

1 t. vanilla

2 T. softened butter

1/2 cup milk (you probably won't need it all)

1 cup old-fashioned oats

1 cup chocolate chips

Cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer.  Add eggs and vanilla.  Mix well.  Stir in the protein powder, cocoa powder, baking soda, flour, and oats.  Mix well and add milk a little at a time until the batter reaches desired "muffin-batter" consistency.  Add in the banana and mix well.  Stir in the chocolate chips. 

Spoon into liners in a muffin tin and bake at 325 degrees for 18-20 minutes.

*Inspired by skinnytaste.com.  

I was out of applesauce so I omitted it and the muffins turned out just fine. 

Shared at:

Sugar and Dots  

Lady Behind the Curtain:  Cast Party Wednesday 

This Chick Cooks

Banana Oatmeal Muffins

I can see how this summer is going to go.

Sleep in.  Bake.  Play on the internet for the majority of the day a bit.  Bake.  Shop.  Cook dinner.  Go to the gym a couple of times a week.  Feel bad for husband when he has to leave for work at 5:15am each day.  Nap.  Read.  Bake.

I love to bake.  My mom used to tell me, as I perused her Taste of Home magazines, that I should look for something we could actually eat, instead of just the desserts.  Cooking is certainly more practical as a life skill, I suppose.  But there is nothing like cookies fresh from the oven.  Absolutely nothing. 

My baking goal for the summer is to create and/or modify recipes to make them healthier.  Then I'll have healthy stand-bys ready for when the rush starts up again in August.

Besides, then I can eat as much as I want, right?  You know, before I take my 2pm nap each day.

For this, I took a basic formula for muffins and incorporated my own ingredients.

Banana Oatmeal Muffins

1 T. melted butter
1 medium mashed banana
1/2 cup applesauce
1 t. vanilla
1 egg, beaten

Mix all of the above "wet" ingredients together with a wooden spoon.


Mix these dry ingredients together in a bowl:


1 cup flour (all-purpose or whole wheat)
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1 t. cinnamon
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt

Incorporate the dry ingredients in the wet ingredients and mix well.  Fill cupcake-liners 2/3 of the way with the batter and bake for about 20 minutes at 325 degrees.  Use a toothpick to ensure the center of each muffin is done.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

My new favorite thing is food blogs. If someone makes a recipe and cares enough to share it, it must be good. Most of blogs I've been perusing are by busy moms, so I know the food has to be easy, somewhat healthy, and taste good. I've discovered that trolling the internet mindlessly is the perfect way to unwind from a long weekday, so that's how I spent my Thursday night. I was so enthralled with one blog that I read almost the entire thing (over a year worth of posts) in one night. It's really made me realize that I need to start cooking more. I haven't even baked anything from scratch in months..until today.

This is how our week goes. Saturday is recuperation day. Sunday is church, shopping, and depression because Monday is right around the corner. Monday is the longest day ever and sometimes I don't make it to Friday before it's time to go out for dinner. This past week, we went out for sushi on Wednesday (Wednesday was field trip day and those are the longest days of all). Last week, we made it to Friday before it was time to call The Great Alaska Pizza Company for dinner.

But I'm determined to start cooking more. And I do cook. We really don't eat out that much. Maybe once every 10 days? And it's usually because we're invited out or are with other people. (However, we do take advantage of Papa John's being 1/2 a mile away.)

Today, after making lunch from scratch (Guiltless Alfredo Sauce), I decided it was time to use up the can of pumpkin in the cupboard. I made Linda's (Scott's mom) Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins. Her recipe uses whole-wheat flour, but I use regular because I always forget to buy whole-wheat. I also created my own Cream Cheese Rum Icing to go along with the muffins. It started as a cream cheese icing, but as I was looking for a tupperware container for the icing, I came across the rum. It must have been fate. (Note: The muffins, of course, are fine the way they are. However, I like putting butter or something on muffins, and butter doesn't seem to go well with these. That's why I came up with the icing.)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Dry ingredients: 3 1/3 c. flour 2 T. pumpkin pie spice 2 t. baking soda 1/2 t. baking powder 1/2 t. salt
Mix together and set aside

Wet ingredients: 2 eggs 1 can pumpkin 1/2 c. oil 1 1/2 c. sugar
Blend the wet ingredients with a mixer and add the dry ingredients in 3 batches. You can use up to 1/2 c. of milk to thin the batter if necessary. It should be thick when it's all mixed together.

Add 1 c. of mini chocolate chips. Stir and spoon into a muffin pan. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Cream Cheese Rum Icing

4 oz. cheese cheese (I used light) 2 cups powdered sugar 1 t. vanilla 1 t. rum
As much milk as needed to get the consistency you'd like

Blend all together with mixer. You definitely won't need more than this amount of icing for one recipe of the muffins.