Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins
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These chocolate chip pumpkin muffins are incredibly easy to make. Made with real pumpkin purée, ginger oil, warm spices, and milk chocolate chips, plus crunchy Demerara sugar on top, you can pull this recipe together in about 45 minutes from start to finish, with minimal need for special tools or fancy ingredients. They’re great for breakfast on a crisp autumn morning, as an afternoon snack paired with a mug of coffee, or added to a bread basket for brunch.
Why Did I Create This Pumpkin Muffin Recipe?
Anybody who knows me knows that I’m not the biggest fan of autumn. Sure, the leaves look pretty for a couple of weeks, but before long it’s winter, and then it’s just cold, dark, and downright miserable. (I still don’t understand why summer seems to last for all of about five seconds, but winter drags on for an eternity. Why can’t it be the other way around?) The one thing that makes the change in seasons a bit more bearable is revisiting my favorite fall flavors. After a summer filled with icebox cakes, granitas, and homemade lemonade, it’s finally cool enough to turn on the oven again. I love to eat these muffins, but I especially enjoy the scents of pumpkin, cinnamon, and brown sugar wafting through my apartment as they bake, putting even a cold weather-hater like me in the mood for fall.
Key Ingredients
- Pumpkin Purée – Choose real pumpkin purée for this recipe, not pumpkin pie filling. Canned pumpkin pie filling contains spices; you’ll be adding your own, so no need to start with pre-spiced pumpkin. In the UK, you can find canned puréed pumpkin the American foods aisle at Sainsbury’s.
- Spices – You’ll need ground cinnamon, ground ginger, ground cardamom, ground nutmeg, and ground cloves, plus fine sea salt, to create the perfect blend of pumpkin spice. You can also replace the individual spices with an equal amount of homemade or store-bought pumpkin pie spice.
- Pumpkin Spice Flavoring or Ginger Oil – While optional, a small amount of pumpkin spice or ginger oil adds a big amount of fall flavor. If you don’t have either of these on hand, you can use vanilla bean paste (or extract) instead.
- Sugars – Demerara sugar is a partially refined sugar similar to Turbinado sugar or Sugar in the Raw. The golden color, caramel flavor, and larger sugar crystals add a lovely finishing touch to muffins, hand pies, and shortbread cookies. You’ll also need granulated sugar and dark brown sugar (I prefer the rich, molasses flavor of dark brown sugar, but feel free to substitute light brown sugar if you’d like) to make the muffin batter.
- Milk Chocolate Chips – I’ve tested this recipe with milk chocolate chips and chopped milk chocolate—both work, but I especially like pressing chunks of milk chocolate into the tops of the muffins for big, melty pools of chocolate. And while I love the combination of milk chocolate and pumpkin, you can swap milk for dark chocolate or another type of chocolate if you’d like. Be sure to reserve a few pieces of chocolate or chips for the tops of the muffins.
Sugar or No Sugar?
I tested two versions of this recipe: One with Demerara sugar sprinkled on top, and a second version without the sugary topping. In the photo below, you can see the difference between the two. The muffin on the left (with Demerara sugar) has a cracked, crunchy, slightly caramelized top. The muffin on the right (no sugar) is smooth and shiny.
I prefer bakery-style muffins with crunchy tops, so I vote for Demerara sugar, or another coarse brown sugar. However, you can skip the sprinkle of sugar if you like your muffins with soft, smooth tops.
Tips and Tricks
- Use silicone muffin liners. I prefer to bake in silicone muffin cups, but the second best option is a silicone muffin pan. Paper liners will also work in a pinch. One thing I do not recommend is an unlined metal tin, unless you want to spend a lot of time prying the muffins from the pan.
- Don’t cool in the tin. After baking, cool the muffins briefly before transferring them to a wire rack, but do not let them cool completely in the tin. In testing, I allowed a batch to cool in the tin for several hours, and found that this made the muffins difficult to remove (the melted Demerara stuck to the tin), and also made cleaning the pan more tedious.
- Wrap for on-the-go snacking. Whether freezing or storing at room temperature, I suggest wrapping each muffin individually in foil, making them easy to transport, or to thaw one or two for breakfast on the go.
Pumpkin Muffins
- Total Time45 minutes
- Yield14-16 standard-size muffins 1x
Chocolate chip pumpkin muffins made with real pumpkin purée, ginger oil, warm autumn spices, and milk chocolate chips, plus crunchy Demerara sugar on top.
Ingredients
225 grams all purpose flour (1 3/4 cups)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Pinch ground cloves
110 milliliters vegetable oil (1/2 cup)
45 milliliters whole milk (3 tablespoons)
100 grams granulated sugar (1/2 cup)
100 grams dark brown sugar (1/2 cup)
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon pumpkin spice flavoring or ginger oil, optional
425 grams pumpkin purée (1 15-ounce can)*
85 grams milk chocolate chips or chopped chocolate (1/2 cup), plus more for tops of muffins
Demerara sugar, optional, for sprinkling
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400° F (205° C). Line a 12-cup muffin tin with silicone or paper liners.
In a mixing bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, nutmeg, and cloves.
In a separate bowl, whisk vegetable oil, milk, sugars, eggs, and pumpkin pie flavoring or ginger oil, if using.
Whisk in the pumpkin puree.
Add wet ingredients to the flour bowl. With a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, stir until just combined. Do not overmix. (Batter will be lumpy.)
With a flexible rubber spatula or wooden spoon, gently fold in the chocolate chips.
Spoon batter into prepared tin, dividing it equally between the cups. Top with additional chocolate chips.
Sprinkle with Demerara sugar.
Bake in preheated oven for 22-24 minutes, or until golden brown and nicely risen, muffins spring back lightly when touched, and a toothpick comes out mostly clean. Repeat with remaining batter.
Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Store pumpkin muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Leftover muffins can also be frozen.
Notes
*Pure pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling.
Make-Ahead and Storage Suggestions
Because this muffin recipe comes together in about 45 minutes, I suggest making your pumpkin muffins on the day you plan to serve them. However, the leftovers will keep well in an airtight container at room temperature for two or three days.
To freeze: Cool completely, then remove the silicone liners (if using paper liners, you can freeze directly in the paper.) Wrap the muffins in foil, and freeze for up to three months. Thaw at room temperature.
Other Muffin Recipes You Might Enjoy
Lemon Poppyseed Muffins
Strawberry Muffins
Berry Oatmeal Muffins
Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins
And if you do make these, or any of my recipes, don’t forget to tag me @bastecutfold or use the hashtag #bastecutfold on Instagram. I always love to see what you’re making!
