Oct 25, 2013, Updated Apr 13, 2019 I love this time of the year! It just looks so pretty outside, the fall colors make the city look so bright and full of life. Nowadays whenever I go for my walks and runs, half of the time is gone in clicking pictures. Every tree looks spectacular to me and I want to capture it before it all gets over in few days. This picture I clicked just 2 days back while taking a walk in the evening. Beautiful, isn’t it?
In US, other than the fall colors there’s one more thing that clearly describes fall, Pumpkins! Everywhere you go, in every store all you see is pumpkins. And the stores carry so many pumpkin goodies like cakes, cookies, pumpkin pies etc etc. Even the coffee chains sell “pumpkin spiced latte” during fall. So yeah you can’t really ignore pumpkins during fall here. And so the other day I also decided to get the pumpkin puree and try and make something out of it. And so I baked these beautiful pumpkin chocolate chip muffins.
I have baked muffins in the past and while they came out good none of them ever had that perfect dome that we see at the bakery in the market. But few months back I read a book on baking and that explained how to get the perfect looking muffins. So how to make high rise muffins?
- The muffins have to be baked at a very high temperature at first. After 5 minutes, the temperature should be lowered and they should then be baked at that lower temperature for the remaining time. The high heat leads to a burst of steam which lifts the batter and you end up with a muffin dome.
- They should be baked in the upper third of the oven where heat is more constant.
- The muffin liners/pan needs to be filled all the way to the top to get muffin domes. And when you follow all those steps, you end up with such nice muffin domes!
I added chocolate chip to these muffins because, well because I simply love chocolates and try to squeeze them in wherever I can. The muffins are flavored with the pumpkin puree and the pumpkin pie spice. The pumpkin pie spice is a mix of various spices like cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon etc. One can make it at home but I just got one from the stores, saves time. I tend to use oil while making breads and muffins because the oil truly makes them softer. You can definitely use butter instead of oil. Also if you like sweeter muffins, feel free to adjust the quantity of sugar. I have seen that people especially Indians, assume that every baked good has to as sweet as a cake, which is totally wrong. Muffins are quick breads and are a popular breakfast item in the west. They have less oil and less sugar compared to cakes or cupcakes. They are supposed to healthier too! So the sugar in this recipe is perfect for muffins in my opinion, but if you want to make it sweeter, go ahead.
Method
Preheat oven to 425F degrees. First mix all the dry ingredients together.
In a bowl mix together some flour and sugar.
Add the pumpkin pie spice to it and mix.
Now add in the salt and baking soda. Set aside.
In another bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree and eggs. Make sure that you use the pure pumpkin puree for these muffins and not the pumpkin pie mix.
Add in the oil, I used canola oil but you can use any oil of your choice.
Now add in the yogurt and mix. I used low fat yogurt here but you can use full fat too.
Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients slowly. Add in 3 parts, mixing well after adding each part. Do not overmix.
Lastly fold in the chocolate chips slowly.
Line a muffin pan and with muffin liners. Spray the muffin liners with some non-stick spray. Fill in the liners with the batter right till the top. The muffin batter is thick, it’s supposed to be like that. Sprinkle some pumpkin seeds on top.
Bake the muffins for 5 minutes at 425 F degress and then keeping the muffins inside the oven, immediately reduce the temperature to 350 F and bake for additional 15-17 minutes or till a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
title: “Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins " ShowToc: true date: “2024-09-08” author: “Paul Troutman”
Oct 25, 2013, Updated Apr 13, 2019 I love this time of the year! It just looks so pretty outside, the fall colors make the city look so bright and full of life. Nowadays whenever I go for my walks and runs, half of the time is gone in clicking pictures. Every tree looks spectacular to me and I want to capture it before it all gets over in few days. This picture I clicked just 2 days back while taking a walk in the evening. Beautiful, isn’t it?
In US, other than the fall colors there’s one more thing that clearly describes fall, Pumpkins! Everywhere you go, in every store all you see is pumpkins. And the stores carry so many pumpkin goodies like cakes, cookies, pumpkin pies etc etc. Even the coffee chains sell “pumpkin spiced latte” during fall. So yeah you can’t really ignore pumpkins during fall here. And so the other day I also decided to get the pumpkin puree and try and make something out of it. And so I baked these beautiful pumpkin chocolate chip muffins.
I have baked muffins in the past and while they came out good none of them ever had that perfect dome that we see at the bakery in the market. But few months back I read a book on baking and that explained how to get the perfect looking muffins. So how to make high rise muffins?
- The muffins have to be baked at a very high temperature at first. After 5 minutes, the temperature should be lowered and they should then be baked at that lower temperature for the remaining time. The high heat leads to a burst of steam which lifts the batter and you end up with a muffin dome.
- They should be baked in the upper third of the oven where heat is more constant.
- The muffin liners/pan needs to be filled all the way to the top to get muffin domes. And when you follow all those steps, you end up with such nice muffin domes!
I added chocolate chip to these muffins because, well because I simply love chocolates and try to squeeze them in wherever I can. The muffins are flavored with the pumpkin puree and the pumpkin pie spice. The pumpkin pie spice is a mix of various spices like cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon etc. One can make it at home but I just got one from the stores, saves time. I tend to use oil while making breads and muffins because the oil truly makes them softer. You can definitely use butter instead of oil. Also if you like sweeter muffins, feel free to adjust the quantity of sugar. I have seen that people especially Indians, assume that every baked good has to as sweet as a cake, which is totally wrong. Muffins are quick breads and are a popular breakfast item in the west. They have less oil and less sugar compared to cakes or cupcakes. They are supposed to healthier too! So the sugar in this recipe is perfect for muffins in my opinion, but if you want to make it sweeter, go ahead.
Method
Preheat oven to 425F degrees. First mix all the dry ingredients together.
In a bowl mix together some flour and sugar.
Add the pumpkin pie spice to it and mix.
Now add in the salt and baking soda. Set aside.
In another bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree and eggs. Make sure that you use the pure pumpkin puree for these muffins and not the pumpkin pie mix.
Add in the oil, I used canola oil but you can use any oil of your choice.
Now add in the yogurt and mix. I used low fat yogurt here but you can use full fat too.
Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients slowly. Add in 3 parts, mixing well after adding each part. Do not overmix.
Lastly fold in the chocolate chips slowly.
Line a muffin pan and with muffin liners. Spray the muffin liners with some non-stick spray. Fill in the liners with the batter right till the top. The muffin batter is thick, it’s supposed to be like that. Sprinkle some pumpkin seeds on top.
Bake the muffins for 5 minutes at 425 F degress and then keeping the muffins inside the oven, immediately reduce the temperature to 350 F and bake for additional 15-17 minutes or till a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
