Pumpkin Cinnamon Chip Mini Muffins

pumpkin cinnamon chip mini muffins

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They’re funny-looking little things, aren’t they? Don’t be deceived. These Pumpkin Cinnamon Chip Mini Muffins are deliciously addictive, supplying decadence to the taste buds without guilt.  They may be healthy enough for breakfast, but they are absolutely ideal for dessert.

I played with the recipe a bit. Dry ingredients first: whole wheat white flour, wheat germ, cane sugar, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sea salt. I cut down the sugar and amped up the spices, as well as switching up the flour and adding wheat germ.

dry ingredients

dry ingredients, whisked

That part was easy enough. The next was no less simple, but looked a lot less appealing.  I took out another bowl and combined pumpkin, melted coconut oil, an egg (instead of two egg whites; I have no health or weight issues with yolks), and vanilla bean paste. They all sound lovely on their own, but look what happens when you put them all together:

liquid ingredients, looking unpleasant

The visuals got a lot nicer once I put my whisk to work. (I decided not to use the stand mixer on this one.)

liquid ingredients, whisked

liquid ingredients, whisked

Simple recipe, simple steps. I added the flour mixture to the pumpkin mess.

adding dry ingredients

dry and liquid, unmixed

batter, mixed

Last, I added the chips, substituting cinnamon for the chocolate. I think I was pretending it was still autumn, which technically, it still is.

adding cinnamon chips

Once they were folded in, I got out my mini muffin tins. I made the mistake with the first tray of using mini muffin liners, I think I just have to give up on those. I love the full size ones, but the mini ones just seem to get in the way (cute as they may be). I wised up by the second tray. This recipe made 36 mini muffins, just perfect for my 24 and 12 cup trays.

batter in mini muffin tin

Sadly, when they came out of the oven, they looked as lumpy and weird as the batter did going in.

mini muffins, baked and weird-looking

See?

Honestly, they just look odd. Even on the original blog they looked a little lumpy, although not quite as unpleasant as mine. And they took a really long time to bake, so long that I didn’t think they had a chance in hell of being edible. They took longer than full size muffins to bake through, and didn’t look particularly appealing.

But bottom line? These are delicious! They’re sweet, moist, and flavorful, and the fact that they’re mini muffins makes you want to pop them like candy. You would never look at those lumpy little things and expect them to taste as wonderful as they do. I couldn’t even eat them for breakfast because they tasted so dessert-like, and yet they’re made with wheat germ, yogurt, coconut oil, wheat flour, and pumpkin, all good for you. . .and just so good to eat that once you start, you’ll have a hard time stopping. Good luck with that.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Chip Mini Muffins

SKINNY MINI PUMPKIN CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS RECIPE (original)

My version of Pumpkin Cinnamon Chip Mini Muffins (adapted from Skinnytaste)

makes 36 mini muffins

ingredients:

2/3 + 1/4 cup whole wheat white flour
1/3 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup cane sugar
1 3/4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/2 cups pumpkin
2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
2/3 cup mini cinnamon chips

directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees and spray a couple of mini muffin tins.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, wheat germ, sugar, baking soda, pumpkin spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.

In another bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, oil, egg and vanilla.

Add the flour mixture to the second bowl and mix just until incorporated. Fold in the cinnamon chips.

Scoop batter into mini muffin tins, and bake for 20-25 minutes. I know most mini muffins are done in about 10 minutes, but these take longer.

Once a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean, remove from the oven and as soon as they’re cool enough to handle, move to a wire rack. (You can always use a toothpick to gently pry them out of the tins.)

These won’t look gorgeous on your table, but they’ll make your taste buds very happy.

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