Chocolate Chunk Pumpkin Muffins
While some might disagree with me, chocolate and pumpkin are GREAT together! And both the pumpkin and chocolate are made better with a drizzle of sweet espresso glaze. These chocolate chunk pumpkin muffins are super moist and bake up nice and tall.
These muffins start out by using creamed butter and sugar as the base. While I use granulated sugar here, I’m thinking about testing them out with brown sugar, too!
The butter and sugar won’t end up in a creamy, fluffy paste like in a cookie recipe. Since there’s a little more sugar than butter, (volume) it ends up looking a bit piecey and chunky. This is normal and okay! Once the eggs are added, everything begins to pull together.
As you add the eggs, pumpkin and vanilla, keep scraping down the bowl occasionally to make sure that you get all of the ingredients mixed in.
When it’s time to add both the flour/spice mixture and the milk, use low speed and alternate blending in the flour with the milk. This is sometimes done in cakes, and it helps to keep things nice and moist. Add a third of the flour and mix it in completely on low speed. Follow with half of the milk, and blend again. Repeat with the next third of the flour, the remaining milk, and then finally the last third of the flour.
You should have a velvety smooth pumpkin batter, all ready for the chopped chocolate! I like to use dark chocolate, with a cacao percentage of around 66%. However, I also like to use Trader Joe’s pound plus dark chocolate that comes in at 72%. It’s your choice!
Baking temperature
Start the oven out hot, at 425 degrees. After baking the muffins for 10 minutes, decrease the oven temp to 350 and bake for another 15 minutes to finish. The initially high oven temperature helps to create a nice, domed top on the muffins.
Espresso glaze
Let the espresso powder bloom in a little hot water for a few minutes before adding it to the rest of the glaze ingredients. Whisk until smooth, and then drizzle as desired over these amazing chocolate chunk pumpkin muffins!
Chocolate Chunk Pumpkin Muffins
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 12 muffins 1x
- Category: Brunch, Sweet
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
Ultra soft and tender, these fall spiced muffins are loaded with chocolate chunks and drizzled with a coffee glaze.
Ingredients
For the muffins:
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp espresso powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 6 TB unsalted butter, soft room temperature
- 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup whole milk
- 4 – 4 1/2 ounces chopped dark chocolate
For the coffee glaze:
- 1/2 tsp espresso powder
- 1/2 tsp hot water
- 1 TB whole milk or heavy cream
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
To make the muffins:
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees, and line a 12 cavity muffin pan with paper liners. Sift the flour, espresso powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt and pumpkin pie spice together in a medium mixing bowl and set aside.
- In another, larger mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl after each one.
- Add the pumpkin puree and vanilla extract, and beat on low speed just until combined evenly.
- Alternate adding the flour/spice mixture and milk, beginning and ending with the flour. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and beat on low speed until there are no flour streaks remaining. Follow up with half of the milk and blend on low speed again just until combined. Repeat with another flour addition, the remaining milk, and then the remaining flour mixture.
- Use a spatula to gently fold in all but a few tablespoons of the chopped chocolate, reserving some for sprinkling on top of the muffins before baking.
- Divide the batter evenly among all 12 muffin cavities, filling each one nearly to the top. Sprinkle with the reserved chopped chocolate and bake for 10 minutes at 425. After 10 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees and continue to bake for another 15 minutes. The tops of the muffins should spring back slightly when you press them with your finger.
- Allow the muffins to cool completely before glazing.
To make the glaze:
- Combine the espresso powder and hot water in a small bowl or dish and stir to dissolve the powder. In a slightly larger bowl, combine the remaining glaze ingredients and add the espresso powder liquid. Whisk everything together until smooth and pourable, adding more powdered sugar or milk as needed.
- Drizzle the cooled muffins with coffee glaze as desired.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 muffin with glaze
- Calories: 334
- Sugar: 37.6 g
- Sodium: 373.9 mg
- Fat: 11.6 g
- Saturated Fat: 6.6 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 52.3 g
- Fiber: 1.8 g
- Protein: 5.9 g
- Cholesterol: 50.1 mg
