Pumpkin Chip Muffins: A recipe in progress

 Pumpkin Chip Muffins get a healthier make-over.

Pumpkin and chocolate are such a great combination, and I was thrilled when I found a delicious recipe for pumpkin chip muffins from www.tasteofhome.com. My boys devoured these sweet muffins. As I progressed in our real food journey, I loved the flavor of these muffins, but I hated the 2 cups of refined sugar and 3 cups of white flour. I started substituting better ingredients as I learned more and acquired the healthier ingredients. I started with fifty percent white flour and fifty percent whole wheat flour. I recently tried a new grain-freee pumpkin chip recipe with coconut flour, but my dear hubby was not a fan. Now I use a mixture of whole wheat flour and sprouted wheat flour. Some day I hope to be only using sprouted wheat, but I haven't experimented with that yet. I tried a few different brands of stevia for a portion of the sugar, but I thought they had a strange aftertaste. Then I moved to maple syrup and maple sugar. I've cut the amount of sugar in half, and now I use sucanat. Coconut oil is substituted for the canola oil. The muffins aren't quite as sweet with the current recipe, but they are still delicious, and all my guys gave them the seal of approval. They are an easy, portable breakfast for my husband who grabs breakfast to go. 

My Ingredients 

Expeller-pressed coconut oil

Pastured eggs, organic pumpkin, and sucanat

Homemade Baking Power- I found the simple recipe here. 

Prep: 10 min. Bake: 15 min. + cooling Yield: 27 servings

Ingredients

• 4 pastured eggs 
• 1 cup sucanat (rapadura, maple syrup, or other healthy sweetener)
• 1 can (15 oz.) solid-pack pumpkin 
• 1 - 1/2 cups expeller-pressed coconut oil 
• 1 - 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
• 1 - 1/2 cups sprouted whole wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt 
• 2 cups or 10 oz. of semisweet chocolate chips (I used Enjoy Life brand.) 

The cookie scoop makes filling the muffins neat and easy. 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

2. Pull eggs out of refrigerator. Melt coconut oil in small pan on low heat. In a large bowl, beat the eggs, sucanat, pumpkin, and oil until smooth. 

3. In a medium bowl, combine the flours, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. 

4. Gradually add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and mix well. 

5. Fold in chocolate chips. 

6. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. 

7. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. 

8. Cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack. 

Yield: About 27 muffins 

Mmm, now I want to make some more.

This post is linked back to Sunday School at Butter Believer and Monday Mania at the Healthy Home Economist.