Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins

I'm not usually one who jumps forward with seasons. If you know me well, you know I loathe anything a couple months early (especially Christmas - wait until after Thanksgiving, you crazies!) So when you see pumpkin filling up my blog from now until Thanksgiving, know that I waited until September to share :) September, for me, is the beginning of one of my favorite seasons: Fall! 

I love pumpkin in desserts. I love mixing it with different flavors and textures. This weekend I used up three cans of pumpkin - THREE. Talk about an early overdose of Fall's star ingredient! It was worth it, and I can't wait to share the recipes with you. These muffins were a perfect place to start. 

The first was for my husband's Sunday School class (a bunch of teenagers - for some reason they listen better when he brings treats). I send treats with him every once-in-a-while, and wanted to make them something special this past weekend (they had fulfilled a spiritual challenge he set for them that week). I had a special treat rising in the kitchen Sunday morning, but it wasn't rising fast enough, and I knew I needed to come up with a different dessert STAT! These muffins fell perfectly into place, baked up beautifully, and were an effortless way to get some pumpkin and chocolate in a dessert for his class. 

What I learned about these muffins is that they are two different muffins that would have been killer on their own. Putting them together, though, was genius! I couldn't wait to try the recipe, and completely fell in love with them before they even hit the oven. 

I decided to skip out on the dark chocolate and go with regular cocoa. The swirl of chocolate was just enough to blend in with the pumpkin without overpowering those soft pumpkin flavors. The texture was perfectly soft, and not at all cakey. This is because I tried my best to not over mix the batter. Over mixing the batter can make the muffins as hard as rock, and heaven knows we don't want that. :) Lightly mix at the end when those dry ingredients come into play, and the muffins will be as soft as clouds! 

These muffins look just like Halloween, and would be perfect to bring to any gathering this beautiful Fall season! 

Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins 

makes 24 muffins

ingredients:

1/2 C butter, softened (1 stick)

2/3 C vanilla Greek yogurt

1 C sugar

1/2 C brown sugar

2 t vanilla

15oz can of 100% pumpkin 

4 eggs

2 2/3 C all-purpose flour

2/3 C cocoa powder

2 t baking soda

2 t baking powder 

1 t salt

1 t cinnamon

1 t pumpkin pie spice

1/3 C buttermilk

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line muffin tin with cupcake liners and set aside. 

2. Combine butter and yogurt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat until thoroughly combined. Mix in sugars and beat in until fluffy. Pour in vanilla and add in pumpkin, mix again until all the ingredients are evenly distributed. Add in eggs and mix again. 

3. In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt). Slowly mix into wet ingredients until just combined. Don't over mix. 

4. Divide batter into two bowls equally. In one bowl, add cocoa and buttermilk and mix until just combined. In the second bowl, add cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice. Stir until just combined. 

5. With an ice cream scoop with release, or cookie scoop with release, add half and half of each (pumpkin and chocolate) into each cupcake liner until they're 2/3 full. Swirl with a toothpick or skewer. 

6. Bake for 15 minutes, remove from oven and cool. 

Recipe adapted from: Love from the Oven