Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins

Perfect for a fall brunch!

I usually hate fall and winter but every once and a while you will get a sunny, warm day that feels just like summer with the added bonus of beautiful fall foliage that makes me semi-somewhat-kinda like fall. Those days just call for a fall treat.

Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins:
I adapted this recipe from Isa Chandra-Moskowitz's recipe HERE.

The changes I made included:

• Instead of a loaf pan I used a muffin tin (the kind that makes MEGA size muffins- it made 6)
  
• Instead of: 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger and 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves = I just added pumpkin pie spice to the same ratio.
• I added a 1/4 cup more sugar because I like my chocolate SWEET!
• I added a few more chocolate chips because you can never have too many of those!
• I used vegetable oil- not canola or coconut.
  
• The muffins take about 20 minutes- a lot less time than the loaf recipe, so watch the clock!

These muffins are SO MOIST. They literally melt in your mouth. And the semi-melted, gooey chocolate chips are amazing. Don't expect a chocolatey-cupcake type flavor though, the chocolate is much more subdued so you can taste the pumpkin.

Very Blueberry Muffins

A very BLUEberry muffin!

This weekend I was trapped at home the better of Saturday morning waiting for the dreaded cable guy to come. To make the best of a bad morning, I whipped up these muffins for breakfast.

VERY BLUEBERRY MUFFINS (servings: 12 muffins)
**This recipe is modified from America's Test Kitchen

LEMON-SUGAR TOPPING:
(I made extra of this because I really wanted a lot of sugar topping on my muffins)

• 1/3 cup sugar
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated zest from 1 lemon

1. Stir together sugar and lemon zest in small bowl until combined; set aside.

MUFFINS:

• 2 cups fresh blueberries
• 1 1/8 cups sugar, plus 1 tablespoon
• 2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon table salt
• Egg Replacer = 2 large eggs
• 4 tablespoons Earthbalance, melted
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup "buttermilk" = Soymilk + tbsp of lemon juice or vinegar.
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees. Spray muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.

MAKING JAM:

1. Bring 1 cup blueberries and 1 teaspoon sugar (I added more to my blueberries because they were bland store blueberries) to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat.
2. Cook, mashing berries with spoon several times and stirring frequently, until berries have broken down and mixture is thickened and reduced to ¼ cup, about 6 minutes.
3. Transfer to small bowl and cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes

THE BATTER

1. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in large bowl.
   
2. Whisk remaining 1 1/8 cups sugar and eggs together in medium bowl until thick.
   
3. Slowly whisk in butter and oil until combined.
   
4. Whisk in "buttermilk" and vanilla until combined.
   
5. Fold egg replacer and remaining cup blueberries into flour mixture. (Batter will be very lumpy with few spots of dry flour; do not overmix.)
6. Divide batter equally among muffin cups (batter should completely fill cups and mound slightly). Spoon teaspoon of jam into center of each mound of batter.
   
7. Using chopstick, gently swirl berry filling into batter using figure-eight motion.
   
8. Sprinkle lemon sugar evenly over muffins.
9. Bake 17-19 minutes until muffin tops are golden and firm, rotating muffin tin halfway through baking time.
   
10. Cool muffins in muffin tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack.