Pumpkin-Chocolate Chip Muffins

This might be the last muffin recipe that you need to try, the result is so good.

But first, the book from which the recipe comes: "Make the Bread, Buy the Butter:  What You Should and Shouldn't Cook from Scratch--Over 120 Recipes for the Best Homemade Foods" by Jennifer Reese.

This book is a delight. I'm of a more serious bent, but the author had me laughing in stitches. Chris would find me curled up in a nook, reading a cookbook of all things, laughing so hard that tears streamed down my cheeks and my sides hurt. What is so funny about food? Well, food actually is imbued with a tremendous amount of cultural beliefs--and where you have culture, you have opportunities to laugh. (Plus it's clean: I recall possibly only one off-color joke.) The humor was so good that I even read through recipe directions that I had no intention ever of making because the author hides humor in the recipes themselves.

Besides a good laugh, this is a book that will appeal to "foodies," homemakers trying to stretch their pennies, and mothers trying to make the best nutritional choices. For each recipe, the author discusses ease or difficulty of preparation, nutrition on a broad level (but she does not give a nutritional breakdown like on a food label), and a cost comparison. Her summary is not always an easy "make it" or "buy it" but depends on your ultimate goal.

Today we made this author's recipe for Pumpkin-Chocolate Chip muffins. John has declared them the best muffins we have ever made of all the muffins--ever. I am wondering if my kids will notice if I have eaten the entire batch while they are currently napping. Hhhhmmm.

Pumpkin-Chocolate Chip Muffins by Jennifer Reese

Cost comparison: Starbucks muffin: $1.85, homemade muffin of equivalent size: $0.60

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I used 1 cup white-wheat and 1/2 cup all-purpose)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg (I used dried)
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt
[Note: I added 6 tbsp milled flaxseed, which I calculated would add 1 g fiber plus 3/4 g protein per muffin.]
1 cup pumpkin puree (Author's note: she experimented with pie pumpkins and canned puree, and votes to buy the puree)
1/2 cup neutral vegetable oil (I used coconut)
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup light grown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract (Author's note: make it!)
2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, all-spice, baking soda, and salt.

3. In another bowl, beat the pumpkin with the oil and sugars. Add the eggs, one at a time. Beat in the vanilla.

3. Stir in the dry ingredients, then the chocolate chips.

4. Bake for 22-25 minutes. [My note: Mine took 35 minutes to cook and were still tender and moist. But I think my oven is always slow.] Serve warm, or cool and store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 5 days. [My note: Yeah, right, as if they will last that long.]

Makes twelve 2-1/2 ounce muffins.