Pumpkin Chip Muffins

This time of year I’m all about all things pumpkin…I love pumpkin and have many recipes that include pumpkin in the ingredients. This happens to be one of my favorite recipes because #1 it contains pumpkin, lots of cinnamon and it’s a muffin recipe. Muffins are easy to make and are great for breakfast, brunch, coffee or tea breaks or simply a snack. I discovered this recipe several years ago while searching for recipes on the King Arthur Flour site and if you like to bake as much as I do, you really should take a look at this site. Not only do they have a lot of recipes, there is also a store where you can purchase ingredients, bake ware, etc.….there is also a friendly online community where you can share recipes, discuss baking and get loads of help if you need it.

So, let’s move on to the recipe……..

Pumpkin Chip Muffins
Print Recipe

Muffins
1 2/3 cups flour
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup chocolate chips or cinnamon chips
1/4 cup toffee flavored chips (optional)
1/2 cup diced walnuts or pecans - I sometimes omit the nuts.
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup melted butter, melted vegetable shortening or 1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 cup solid-pack pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling) (half of a 15-ounce can)
1/3 cup water

Glaze*
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 tablespoon milk
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon (1/8 to 1/4)

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg. Stir in the chips of your choice. In a separate bowl, whisk together the vanilla, melted fat, eggs, pumpkin and water. Make a well in the dry ingredients, fill it with the liquid ingredients, and mix vigorously until everything is well blended, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl as you go.

Spoon the batter into the lightly greased or paper-lined cups of a 12-cup muffin pan. The muffin cups should be filled quite full, using a generously rounded 1/4-cup of batter for each muffin. Bake the muffins in a preheated 350°F oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove the muffins from the oven; let them cool for 5 minutes, then transfer them from the pan to a rack to cool completely. Just before serving, stir together the glaze ingredients, and drizzle over the muffins.

Yield: 12 muffins.

*Although these muffins are wonderful with the glaze, I've made them without and they are still delicious.

I usually use just the cinnamon chips, toffee chips and omit the nuts.
I use 1/4 tsp. cinnamon in the glaze.
If the glaze is too stiff, add more milk. If it's too runny add a little more confectioners' sugar.

I like to buy the whole nutmeg and grate it myself....the whole nutmeg has a longer shelf life than the grated.

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg.

Cinnamon chips.....these may be a little difficult to find. Hershey's makes cinnamon chips and they can be found in some supermarkets but I prefer to either buy mine at the local bulk food store or online at King Arthur Flour....the chips from these two places are mini and seem to melt into the batter a little better than the regular sized chips. Another online source for cinnamon chips is The Prepared Pantry, although I've never ordered from there yet.

There are two different types of toffee chips, You can either get the plain toffee chips, I can't remember who makes them, or the Heath Bar Toffee Bits. I think I like the Heath Bar Bits best because they are covered in milk chocolate.....you get two different flavors in this one.

Add chips to the dry ingredients.

Stir to combine.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the vanilla, melted fat, eggs, pumpkin and water. If you are wondering why my pumpkin is such a light color, it's because I used fresh pumpkin puree instead of canned.

Make a well in the dry ingredients, fill it with the liquid ingredients, and mix vigorously until everything is well blended.

Since I'm making these for Thanksgiving, I wanted to use some fall themed cupcake liners. Aren't they cute?

Spoon the batter into the lightly greased or paper-lined cups of a 12-cup muffin pan. The muffin cups should be filled quite full, using a generously rounded 1/4-cup of batter for each muffin.

Bake for 25-30 minutes. Now you can stop here and these muffins will be delicious but to take them over the top, make the glaze.

I had these on the cooling rack and caught Michael trying to sneek one....I told him he couldn't have one yet because they needed to cool, have glaze put on them and I needed to take photos of the finished product.

Mix together; butter, confectioners sugar, milk and cinnamon.

And here is the finished product. These are moist and light textured and full of flavor and they go great with a glass of cold milk....ask Michael, he knows, he's had three already.