Fall is my absolute favorite time of year. I love when the harsh heat subsides and slowly there are more sweater hours in the day. I love bringing out my fall wardrobe, embracing chunky sweaters, joggers, and scarves.
I embrace the end of BBQ season, cold salads, and garden veggies, and exchange them for warm soups and salads, casseroles, and bold comfy flavors.
Pumpkin Spice combines cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and ginger in a perfectly convenient package for fall. I have found myself adding it to my coffee, oatmeal, yogurt…and of course, these amazing muffins!
Where we live, fall is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it season. Savoring all things fall becomes an art form. This morning, we were grasping at some of the last moments of fall – all while a blizzard was raging outside! We closed the curtains, turned up the furnace, and made some muffins for breakfast.
Does a healthy muffin exist?? These muffins have little to no refined sugar (depending on the add-ins you use) taking advantage of sweet maple syrup instead. We used whole wheat flour and oats to add some great whole grains. Using coconut oil rounds out the recipe with healthy fats. They are nut-free, so safe for school snacks, but spreading nut butter on when you’re ready to eat, is a great (and delicious) way to add protein.
They taste like dessert, but we will not judge if you eat them for breakfast – We sure did!
Tips Before You Begin:
- These muffins are quick and easy! Put away the mixer and combine the ingredients gently by hand. This ensures a light, fluffy muffin. If you over-mix, you’ll end up with dense muffins.
- You can make these allergy-friendly by subbing out eggs, milk, and gluten with commonly-used alternatives such as mashed banana, applesauce, and almond or soy milk. This is a forgiving recipe!
- Get creative with your add-ins. For this recipe, I used dark chocolate chips, but try white chocolate chunks, pumpkin seeds, cranberries, etc. The options are endless, and these will quickly become a family favorite!
Healthy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
Prep Time: 15 minutes with kids as helpers!
Cook Time: 24 minutes
Makes 12 muffins (but you should probably double the recipe, as they go fast!)
These pumpkin spice muffins are quick and easy! With one bowl and a wooden spoon, you will have healthier muffins ready to eat in under an hour with minimal clean-up.
INGREDIENTS
Dry ingredients:
- 1 ¾ cups whole wheat flour
- ⅓ cup old-fashioned oats, and 1 tsp for sprinkling on top
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin spice blend
- 1 teaspoon baking soda (NOT baking powder)
Wet Ingredients:
- ⅓ cup melted coconut oil
- ½ cup maple syrup
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 cup pumpkin purée
- ¼ cup milk of choice (we used almond milk)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Add-Ins:
1 cup dark chocolate chips
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a 12-muffin standard-sized tin with non-stick cooking spray or line it with parchment paper wrappers.
In one large bowl, combine the dry ingredients (whole wheat flour, old-fashioned oats, salt, baking soda, and pumpkin spice blend) and fluff with your wooden spoon.
Make a well in the middle and add the wet ingredients in order (melted oil, maple syrup, eggs, pumpkin purée, and milk). Mix lightly with a fork or your wooden spoon as you go. It just needs to be combined; a few lumps are OK – Don’t overmix!
Fold in your chocolate chips or other desired Add-Ins! Just foooooold it in. 😉 (Bonus points if you knew that reference before watching this clip!)
Divide the batter evenly between the muffin cups. Sprinkle the tops with a tsp of oats, just because it looks pretty!
Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.
Let cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then remove from the pan to cool further on a rack.
Try them warm – the ooey gooey chocolate combined with pumpkin spice is the kind of warm we need all year long!
The nutritional information below is for the base muffin recipe. Add your add-ins on top of these amounts. Use this calculator to see how these muffins fit into your daily intake.
