Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins

4.91 from 10 votes

Super moist and chocolate-y Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins make for the best snack, dessert or breakfast!! PS - these freeze great too so you can pop one out whenever the mood strikes.

Prep Time5

Cook Time40

Total Time45

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: people

Author: Gaby Dalkin

Ingredients

3 cups all purpose flour
3 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 cups canned pumpkin
1 cup vegetable oil (or coconut oil)
4 eggs
⅔ cup water
1 teaspoon ground clove
1 teaspoon allspice
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In a mixer combine the pumpkin, oil, eggs, water and spices on medium speed. Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix on low until everything is just combined. Lastly, add the chocolate chips and fold in with a spatula.
Transfer batter into 2 prepared muffin tins, about ⅔ of the way full, and sprinkle with a few extra chocolate chips on top. Bake for about 25-30 minutes, until a knife is inserted in the middle and comes out clean. Transfer to cooling rack and let cool. (NOTE - baking time will vary depending on what style muffin tin you are using - so best bet is to check the muffins with a knife and once the knife comes out clean, they are done)

Notes

Use canned pumpkin purée, not pumpkin pie filling. Pie filling has added sugar and spices that throw the whole recipe off. The label should say "100% pumpkin" and nothing else.
Don't overmix the batter. Stir just until you stop seeing dry flour. Overworked batter develops gluten, which makes the muffins tough instead of tender.
Reserve a handful of chocolate chips for the tops. Press a few extra chips on top of each muffin right before baking. They stay visible after the rise and look bakery-worthy.
Toss the chocolate chips in flour first. Coat the chips in 1 tablespoon of flour from the dry ingredients before folding in. The flour coating prevents them from sinking to the bottom of the muffin.
Fill liners ¾ full, not to the rim. Pumpkin batter rises a lot. Liners filled too high give you flat-topped, spilled-over muffins instead of the puffy domes you want.
Start hot, then drop the temp. Bake at 400°F for the first 5 minutes to set the rise, then drop to 350°F for the rest. The high initial heat is what gives you that bakery-style domed top.
Use a cookie scoop for even portions. A #20 disher (about 3 tablespoons) gives 24 identical muffins. Eyeballed batter means uneven bake times and one tray of underdone muffins next to overdone ones.
Bloom the spices in the oil first (optional, worth it). Warm the oil with the spices in the microwave for 30 seconds before mixing. Wakes up the volatile oils in the clove and allspice and gives the muffins a deeper flavor.
Eggs and pumpkin at room temp. Cold eggs and cold pumpkin straight from the fridge make a lumpy batter. Pull both 30 minutes before mixing for a smooth, evenly textured muffin.
Cool 5 minutes in the pan, then transfer. Leaving them in too long steams the bottoms soggy. Pull at 5 minutes, finish cooling on a wire rack so air gets underneath.
Freeze whole on a sheet pan, then bag. Don't bag warm muffins, they'll stick to each other. Freeze flat first, then transfer to a zip-top; pull individual muffins as needed.

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