Healthy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

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These Healthy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins are the perfect fall treat! A soft, moist muffin packed full of pumpkin spice flavor to give you all the Fall feels! I’ve swapped out a few ingredients to lighten them up and make them a bit better for you, but we didn’t sacrifice flavor at all.

These are my all-time favorite pumpkin muffins. I make them every year. Multiple times. To me, the addition of chocolate chips is what makes this recipe extra delicious. Especially dark chocolate!

Why you’ll love this recipe

Key Ingredints and Substitutions

• Flour– All purpose works great here, but if you want a little more nutrition, try whole wheat, or whole wheat pastry flour. Whole wheat flour will make them a bit more dense.
• Pumpkin Puree– FRESH IS BEST! But canned pumpkin will work fine. See my tutorial on how to make your own pumpkin puree’. If you use canned, make sure you are using 100% pumpkin, not pie filling or one with extra ingredients.
• Coconut Oil– Lighter and better for you than vegetable oil. If you want to lighten it up further, you can use apple sauce in place of it (in addition to the apple sauce listed below).
• Unsweetened Apple Sauce– An amazing substitute for fat in this recipe. Apple sauce keeps it moist and light but without the extra heavy calories.
• Sugar- Use regular sugar, or a sugar substitute such as Swerve. I only reccomend sugar substitutes that are stevia based, as they are all natural and not loaded with chemicals. You can also swap this out for maple syrup or honey if you want an unrefined sugar.
• Mini chocolate chips– My favorite is dark chocolate but use what you like best. If you want to reduce the sugar in this recipe further, Lily’s chocolate chips work great! They are made with stevia instead of sugar. I prefer the mini size here as I like how well it distributes througout the muffin, but regular size works fine.

Chef’s Tips and Variations

• If your coconut oil is solid, gently warm it in the microwave until it is liquid and room temperataure.
  
• These work well as mini muffins too. Just make sure you check them after about 12 minutes, they shouldn’t need to bake as long.
  
• “Folding” in the chocolate chips simply means to gently turn the batter over with your spoon or spatula until they are evenly mixed in. It’s a very gentle way of mixing. Overmixing can result in tough or dry muffins. 
  
• I’ve lightened up these muffins by using coconut oil and applesauce to replace the traditional fats. You can take it a step further with any or all of these options:
  • Use unsweetened applesauce to replace all the fats (coconut oil here).
  • Use whole wheat pastry flour or whole wheat white flour
  • Use unrefined sugar, such as maple syrup or honey.
  • Use 85% dark chocolate. This is naturally low in sugar. If you can’t find it in chips, get a bar and chop it up.
    
• You can use muffin liners, grease a traditional muffin tin, or use Silicone. I’ve become a huge fan of the silicone trays over the years. No greasing the pan, and you just can’t beat the clean up. Mine are from Bon Cook, but they are quite pricey, Here’s a more affordable one on Amazon.

Frequently Asked Questions

Serving Suggestions

These pumpkin muffins are perfect with a cup of coffee for breakfast. Or serve them alongside a tasty bowl of Healthy Turkey Chili or Butternut Squash Soup. They also make a lovely afternoon snack. There is no bad time to eat these!!

Storing and Freezing

You can store these in an airtight container at room temperature for up to four days. Muffins are best stored at room temp. Refrigerating them can change the texture.

These muffins freeze very well! I love to have an extra batch in the freezer.

• Place them in a zip lock freezer bag or other air tight container.
• Release as much air as possible.
• Freeze for up to six months.

Don’t forget to label and date the bag.

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