Whole Wheat Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins anyone? Grab a cup of coffee or hot chocolate! What a delicious combination, and perfect for fall!
As several of you requested, I’m sharing my healthy variations to Crystal’s Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins. These were a big hit yesterday morning when I served them in our marriage class.
If you’d like to read more about how I adapt a recipe to make it healthier, check out this post. You’ll find a free, downloadable recipe conversion sheet which you can tack onto your refrigerator to reference when you need to convert a recipe.
Whole Wheat Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
(adapted from MoneySavingMom)
- 3 cups whole wheat flour (I used freshly ground hard white wheat)
- ½ cup sucanat
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups pureed pumpkin (or one 16 ounce can)
- 1 cup melted coconut oil (or butter)
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together all dry ingredients.
- Add eggs, pumpkin and oil.
- Mix well.
- Fold in chocolate chips.
- Spoon batter into 24 paper lined muffin cups.
- Bake in a 400° oven for 16-22 minutes or until the muffins are golden brown.
(I prefer either homemade chocolate chips or soy free chocolate chips)
These are easy to put together and make your house smell just like the fall season is supposed to smell. Pumpkin and cinnamon smell awesome. Plus, adding chocolate to a muffin never, ever hurts my feelings. :)
Want more pumpkin recipes?
- Overnight Pumpkin Spice French Toast Casserole (Such a wonderful recipe to put together at night, then bake and serve to guests in the morning!)
- Super Moist Sour Cream Pumpkin Bread
- Pumpkin Spice Roll-Out Cookies (Simple and sweet, one of my favorites!)
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread
- Pumpkin Donuts (I make these all year round as an excuse to feed my kids a vegetable for breakfast.)
- Warm Pumpkin Custard (Oh yes, you should drink your pumpkin.)
- Simple Pumpkin Pancakes
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake
- Pumpkin Pecan Pie Squares (Such a fun combination of two holiday favorites.)
- Pumpkin Pie
- Pumpkin Breakfast Cake
- Pumpkin Cheesecake (Making life better, one delicious bite at a time.)
- Pumpkin Pie Bars (These are a Thanksgiving tradition at our house.)
- Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
- Easy Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins (With chocolate chips on top. Amen.)
- Flourless Pumpkin Muffins (Flourless and fabulous!)
I kinda figured you replaced the sugar for sucanat and flour to ww. Glad you also knocked the sugar from 2 c to 1-1/2. I’m going to have to try this! I LOVE pumpkin and well anything w/chocolate in it is sure to be a hit!
I don’t have any ‘acceptable’ sugar substitutes yet except honey….how much honey would you recommend substituting for the sucanat?
I use 3/4 cup honey for every 1 cup of sugar or sucanat called for in a recipe. :)
Awesome…I’ll be making these today. Thank you!
If it works with honey, could you please share? I’m always nervous of subbing with honey and am cheap-o about my honey too and don’t want to waste it! Thanks.
I used a little less than a cup of honey and they are good.
I’ve never used sucanat, but if it’s sweeter than honey, I may like
it better. I just feel like they need ‘something’. Maybe a little
more honey/or use sucanat, or a little more cinnamon or
something. My kids are gobbling them up, though…so they must
be good :)
Great! Thank you!
When I tasted the batter I also found something was missing so I added nutmeg. Also, I used 1 c of apple sauce and 1/2 c of oil. Really delicious.
I threw in a teaspoon of vanilla and did use a whole cup of honey because of my sweet tooth (so annoying!) and it just took them over the edge in deliciousness!
Do you think I could make it in a bread pan instead
of the muffins? Thanks
Jennifer
Ooh, yes – that sounds really good! I think it should work fine in two loaf pans for about 40-50 minutes each? Just a guess!
My bread is in the oven! Thanks for the tips.
Jennifer
Jennifer, did they come out good as loafs?
Is there a “soaked” version? I have a hard time trying to figure out how to soak the grain called for in a recipe when it is not written out for me! :)
I think it would be tough to soak this since the majority of the liquid called for is pumpkin and eggs. :(
I use my own sprouted flour. Just a thought. I don’t digest wheat well if it’s not sprouted. I jsut sprout the wheat berries, dehydrate until fully dry then grind into flour. I like to keep some made up in my fridge :)
These look fantastic! My local store just started stocking sugar pumpkins so I’m going to have to buy a few and try this recipe out (a good excuse to make sweet and salty pumpkin seeds).
Quick question — have you ever tried muscovado sugar? It’s an unrefined sugar with a decent mineral content and it is FABULOUS in any recipe with chocolate or ginger/cinnamon. Like the deepest, darkest brown sugar you can imagine!
Yes, I have tried it, I just always seem to forget about mentioning it! Plus, it seems to always be more expensive than sucanat. Maybe I just haven’t found a good source yet!
Amazon has a good deal with their subscribe and save, and it has great flavor:
http://www.amazon.com/India-Tree-Muscovado-Sugar-2-8-Pound/dp/B001EQ5BUI/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1317075699&sr=8-3
Something to think about if you want to try it again! Love your site!
I’m just curious about why buying “soy-free” chocolate chips is better/healthier/different than buying, let’s say, Nestle Toll House?? (I have made a batch of homemade but still have not baked with it).
On the dangers of soy:
http://www.foodrenegade.com/dangers-of-soy/
I’ve not read much good about soy, so I just avoid it overall. I do sometimes buy/use Nestle chocolate chips when I’m making food for large crowds (the soy free are expensive and hard to come by for me).
Great, thank you ladies for your advice/info. :)
Dried cranberries are very good in pumpkin muffins. Also substitute ground oatmeal for the wheat ground oatmeal for the flour. Olive oil is good, but I’ll try coconut oil. Thanks
It might interest you that the Nestle DARK chocolate morsels appear to be soy-free. And they are excellent in these muffins! :)
I absolutely L-O-V-E chocolate and pumpkin together. For me thats like chocolate and peanutbutter. Yummy!!!! Thanks for the recipe! Gona make some tonight!!!
I love, love, love pumpkin and chocolate together. One of my favorite cookies to make are pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. So yummy and different than just a chocolate chip cookie. Can’t wait to try these out!
Thank you so much for posting YOUR version!!! I really appreciate it!!!
Thank you so much for sharing the “free shipping” sale at Tropical Traditions! I’ve been teetering about purchasing their coconut oil for many months and this gave it the edge – I purchased some!
This is my first post on your blog and I want you to know I’ve learned so much from you about cooking and your your kind spirit. Thanks again.
I used coconut crystals for the sugar, added 1 tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice and used sprouted flour (a mix of spelt, wheat and kamut). They were really good!
I made these first thing yesterday morning and – DE.LISH.ISS. Yum! I may, or may not have eaten 4 myself yesterday. (Should’ve made a double batch…)
I just made these, and they are delicious! However, I used homemade unsweetened organic applesauce instead of butter/oil. I have not noticed you doing that. Is there a reason why? You know far more than I do on the healthy front, so I was just wondering why I don’t see you doing that, especially for baked goods? Thanks for all the great info!
My research tells me that eating plenty of healthy fats (like butter and coconut oil) is great for us, so I never sub out applesauce for the butter or oil, although I do like that applesauce makes a recipe moist!
Thanks for the revision. I was going to attempt to revise it myself, thanks for doing the hard work for me!
Sooo good!! I just halved the recipe (I only have one 12-cup cupcake pan), used pumpkin pie spice instead of just cinnamon, and used raisins instead of chocolate chips. All 3 of my kids are gobbling up (and I’m right beside them!).
Oh My Goodness these are to die for. I made them for my kids co-op Spanish class and they loved them. ofcourse I kept some for myself. They were so so good. Making more tonight for my inlaws that just moved in across the street.
I’ve made these and the daughter loves them. The first time I baked these I used your recipe to a tee. The second time I used the recipe I did everything except for the flour I used the freshly ground soft wheat. Also, per my daughter’s request I put in just a few more chocolate chips. I think using the soft wheat made the muffin a little lighter and softer. These is definitely a keeper recipe.
My kids tend to eat things better if I use half unbleached flour and half wheat. Will this work in this recipe?
That will work. :)
Hi Laura: Thanks for another great recipe! Do you think these will freeze well? If so, any reheating tips? :)
That should work fine. To reheat them I would wrap them loosely in foil
and stick them in the oven at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes.
Thanks a bunch! :)
Here is an egg, dairy, nut free version- http://www.foodallergymama.com/2010/10/13/dairy-egg-and-nut-free-pumpkin-chocolate-chip-muffins/ion- I used coconut oil in place of butter and they were really yummy!
These were my first experience using coconut oil. They were great!
I used cooked sweet potatoes in place of the pumpkin. SO good! I didn’t have any sucanant so I used brown sugar jnstead. The batter was a bit dry so I added a splash of milk too. (I never leave a recipe well enough alone LOL)
Thank you–my family loved them!
We adore these muffins. Adore. Perfect as a snack, breakfast or dessert. And, b/c of the chocolate chips, I can add less sweetener. :)
But I’ve been reminded of the need to prep grains before cooking with them either by soaking, sprouting or sourdough… ever soaked these muffins? Would you suggest putting the pumpkin in the night before to soak w/ the flour or wait till morning? I’m trying to decide if the canned pumpkin would spoil or be okay…
I thought I’d share my variation. I don’t have choc chips on hand (my bulk cocoa comes tomorrow-I’m holding out to make my own chips) so I added the same spices I would add for pumpkin bread (we like ours with cinn, cloves, nutmeg and ginger- we’re spicy like that!) and topped with chopped pecans and a little dab of maple syrup.
I found out this morning that these work just as well with home-canned applesauce in place of the pumpkin. I got started and realized that I didn’t have a can of pumpkin like I thought I did, so I made do! Yummy!
I just made these for these first time. Was a little leery of chocolate and pumpkin. Never had these 2 together, but it was delicious. My youngest daughter bit into it and first said they were ok. She took another bite and side hmmm, these are actually very good. They were moist and tasty. Thanks!
I am gluten free could you tell me what to substitute for the flour and how much? Thanks
I’m not very familiar with gluten free flours to give you a very good answer. Maybe someone else will pipe in who knows more about GF flour substitutions!
I just made these with honey in place of sucanat and left out the chocolate. Oh my goodness, they are delicious!
I just made this recipe into 2 loaves using Kamut flour instead of wheat, I also used honey instead of sugar (same amount of both as per the recipe) INCREDIBLE! I can’t even tell these are whole grain. They present beautiful as well! golden orange in color (Kamut flour is actually yellow like cornmeal!) My only complaint is a lack of pumpkin flavor (maybe it got overpowered by the Kamut)I’ll try more cinnamon next time and maybe a touch of cloves? Anyway it was wonderful Thank you Laura!
OMGosh! I’m not much of a baker but have slowely tried a few recipes from your site. While at Trader Joe’s today I picked up some pumpkin. I decided to make these since I had everything. Can I say WOW! My husband, who does not like pumpkin, even liked them! Plus my super picky 3 y/o and 5 y/o. I finally found a good breakfast item for them to eat:) Thank you for your website!
Thank you for your website!!!!!
Praise God!
Was wondering if I could put this in a bunt pan instead of muffins?
Yes, that should work!
My Nephew attended York college. Met his wife there. Now they are living/working back in her home town in Colorado. (I just read on another of your posts that your husband works there.)
My questions to you is about sugar- What is the difference, if any, between sucanate and demerara sugar?
thx, gonna go bake now!
Oh that’s fun! My husband and I met there too, and now he coaches there. :) Love YC!
Sucanat is less processed than demerara sugar, therefore it has more nutrients intact. That’s why I like sucanat. Hope these muffins turn out well for you!
Thanks, we all loved them! I’ve been using demerara because I though it was also less refined and easier to find in the store, will have to try to get sucanat.
I love this recipe Laura. I recently got 20 lbs of gala apples from Azure Standard and bought apples at Sams a few days before the drop not thinking about the apples I had coming. So, I have lots of apples right now. Anyway, I put some of the apples peals, seeds, and all in my Blentec blender and substituted the applesauce for the pumpkin and they are delish. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
I’ve made these with the coconut oil but could taste the coconut undertones- would Palm shortening work too?
Yes, that would work!
I’ve been making pumpkin chocolate chip muffins for years. The original called for white flour, 1 1/2 cups white sugar and over a cup of oil. Now I make it with gluten free flour, 1/2 cup of coconut sugar and one cup of olive oil. My kids eat them up so quick and my 13 year old son will only eat these muffins and won’t try any other muffin I make.
This has become one of my favorite muffin recipes! do you think it would work to switch out the pumpkin for pureed sweet potatoes?
It should work fine. I would just be sure that there is still enough liquid. Pumpkin puree is somewhat watery so make sure the sweet potato puree is the same. :)
I know this is an old post, but is half a cup a sugar the correct amount for this recipe?
Yes, although you can use more or less according to your preferences. :)