Chef Lisa

Sunday was another one of those “I just HAVE to find something to do, something to make” days. This is one of the things I created. I started off with the Best Ever Muffin base, added pumpkin puree (I had it in the freezer, the stuff I didn’t use to make pumpkin cheesecake), pumpkin pie spice and chocolate chips. It was a hit – a very subtle pumpkin taste, complimented by the spice. The level of sweetness was perfect.

Next time, though, I will mix the puree in with the wet ingredients. I think it will spread the pumpkin better through the batter, and I won’t have to worry about over mixing – or white spots in the finished muffins.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

 
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
3 tsp baking powder
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup milk
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 12 cup muffin tin with cooking spray and set aside.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice and salt in a large bowl. Whisk together, then form a well in the middle of the dry ingredients.

In another bowl, beat the egg, then combine with vegetable oil, pumpkin and milk.

Pour wet ingredients into the well you made in the dry ingredients and stir until almost combined. Add in chocolate chips. Stir it all together until well combined, but don’t over stir. There can be some lumps, but you don’t want too many.

Divide the batter equally between the muffin cups and bake for 25 – 30 minutes, or until golden brown.

We got this recipe from the Wednesday, October 1, 2008 Food section of the Ann Arbor News. It was an article about cooking with pumpkins by Susan Barnes. It makes a very dense, moist cake, but if it weren’t for the chocolate chips, the flavor would be completely unremarkable. Next time I make it (it’s going to be around for at least another day or two, as the recipe makes 2 loaves), I’m going to add more seasoning to it. Possibly pumpkin pie spice.

Now, the relative blandness of the bread could be because we used canned pumpkin, and not the oven roasted pumpkin puree from earlier in the article, but how often is the average person going to be able to get roasted pumpkin puree?

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

1 cup vegetable oil
2 2/3 cups sugar
4 large eggs
2 cups pumpkin puree
2/3 cup water
3 1/3 cups unbleached flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cream together the oil and sugar in a large bowl. Beat in the eggs, pumpkin and water.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg. Whisk together until well blended. Stir flour mixture into pumpkin mixture until just mixed. Stir in vanilla, nuts and chocolate chips.

Spoon the batter into two lightly greased 9″ x 5″ loaf pans and bake for one hour or until a toothpick stuck into the center of the loaves comes out clean. Let the bread cool completely in the pans, then remove and wrap the loaves well in plastic wrap and put in the fridge overnight before serving.

Makes two loaves, about 16 slices each.

We didn’t wait the recommended amount of time before serving. When the first loaf was room temperature, we cut into it. At the time I’m writing this, we haven’t cut into the second loaf, so I don’t know if it does taste better after sitting for a while.

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 243 Calories; 12g Fat (42.9% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 33g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 27mg Cholesterol; 197mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 2 1/2 Fat; 1 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.