Wednesday Baking | Pumpkin/Sweet Potato Chocolate Chip Muffins
The other day on my Facebook page, I related a funny story about Zoe and some muffins that I made, and a reader asked if I could share the recipe. This works out perfectly, because my well-laid plans to write up the recipe for these cinnamon rolls sort of got derailed!
The muffins I made that particular day were based on a Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffin recipe from Crystal Paine's blog, MoneySavingMom. I don't know if it's just the case in my area, but pumpkin has been completely unavailable for months now, which means that this recipe has been collecting dust. The other day, though, I noticed that a couple of my sweet potatoes were getting rather wrinkled and dry, so I boiled them, peeled them, and ran them through the food processor. I ended up with about 1 pound of mashed sweet potato, and since mashed sweet potato is awfully similar to canned pumpkin, I just substituted it for the pound of pumpkin called for in the recipe.
I'm pleased to report that this was a complete success and that the results were virtually indistinguishable from muffins made with pumpkin.
Crystal's recipe is available on her blog, of course, but the recipe I'm sharing here is my modified version. In addition to my sweet potato change, I also subbed milk for half of the oil, and a cup of whole wheat flour for a cup of white flour. Another idea is to substitute applesauce for some of the oil. I didn't have any applesauce on hand, though, and I was not about to cook down some apples into sauce only to use them in muffins. Homemade applesauce is so good that it must be eaten on its own, in my opinion!
Even with the modifications, I will offer the same disclaimer as Crystal, which is that these muffins are not the pinnacle of nutrition, but that they are tasty (and if you make them to use up some wrinkly sweet potatoes, that should absolve you of some of your guilt.). 😉
This makes 36 smallish muffins, which is not an inordinate number for our family. If you have a smaller family, though, you can cut the recipe in half or simply freeze any extra muffins.
Pumpkin/Sweet Potato Chocolate Chip Muffins-makes 36
Printable Pumpkin Muffin Recipe
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 (16 oz.) can pureed pumpkin or 16 oz. mashed sweet potato (without butter, salt, or milk)
¾ cup milk
¾ cup oil
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 package chocolate chips (I often use less when I happen to have only a partial bag)
In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs, sugar, pumpkin, milk, and oil until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk dry ingredients together. Add dry ingredients to liquid ingredients, and stir just until combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups ¾ full. Bake 16-20 minutes at 350 degrees.
OH YUM! Those look amazing! Definitely going to make them this weekend. Love the idea of subbing sweet potato for the pumpkin, since it's pretty hard to find canned pumpkin in England right now.
Yum, I am going to try making these over the weekend. I have been buying a lot of sweet potatoes (from Aldi, of course) lately because I have been making my own baby food so this is perfect timing!
there is some sort of national pumpkin shortage. i can't remember why, but there was an article in our paper about it a while back. ah, here is the article:
http://www.jsonline.com/features/food/87709747.html
These look yummy! I saw last fall that there was a pumpkin shortage so we stocked up on canned pumpkin for the holiday season. I still have several cans left as we didn't do our normal amount of baking. Guess this will be a good recipe to use a can up on.
I use sweet potato for pumpkin all the time. I have never had a problem with it. I think it tastes almost the same, plus, it is cheaper!! Yay. These look really good. I will have to make them sometime. I buy a big bottle of cheap applesauce and I use it in all my recipes. Homemade applesauce is saved for eating with meals.
Ouch, thats a lot of sugar, I bet you could cut that back by at least a third to half and no one would notice. I tend to do that a lot with muffin recipes. And you can use regular squash in any recipe calling for pumpkin, even pies. No one will notice. Trust me.
Yup, I plan to experiment with this. I just didn't want to try too many alterations at once, because that can have disastrous consequences! lol
I'm trying half the sugar, and the apple sauce which I happen to have on hand. I'll let you know.
My results with trying half the sugar were good, obviously yielding a less sweet muffin, but my kids still gobbled them up! Glad I still have cooked sweet potato to make a 2nd batch. My 13 year old liked them so much, he swears he'll help.
I skipped the chocolate chips and substituted 2/3 of the oil (which was 1/2 a cup of the 3/4) with the applesauce and it was fine. I had thought that adding the applesauce would compensate for using less sugar, but the muffins were still not what I would call "sweet" Like I said, it didn't stop my kids from scarfing them.
OK, I'm new to posting here, so I'm not sure where to post this reply re: the sugar. (Sorry if this gets to you twice!)
My results with trying half the sugar were good, obviously yielding a less sweet muffin, but my kids still gobbled them up! Glad I still have cooked sweet potato to make a 2nd batch. My 13 year old liked them so much, he swears he'll help.
I skipped the chocolate chips and substituted 2/3 of the oil (which was 1/2 a cup of the 3/4) with the applesauce and it was fine. I had thought that adding the applesauce would compensate for using less sugar, but the muffins were still not what I would call "sweet" Like I said, it didn't stop my kids from scarfing them.
Yum! I just made the pumpkin ones last week and I have a ton of frozen sweet potato puree. I can't wait to try it!! I also substituted apple sauce (I used 1 cup and 1/2 cup oil) and did half whole wheat flour when I made my pumpkin ones.
Hmm -- a partial bag of chocolate chips? I am shocked, shocked to hear of this! Muffins look yummy!
Yes, that might happen if someone, you know, was snitching some from a bag.
Ahem.
You mean those chips are supposed to go into baked goods?!? Oops.
Love these muffins. I use all freshly ground whole wheat flour instead of white, dark brown sugar instead of white (cut down to 1 to 1 1/4 cups instead of 2), egg whites, some ground flax seed and applesauce for at least half of the oil. And don't forget butternut squash...it is so sweet & yummy!!! This recipe is so easy to adjust and make it healthier and retain the great flavor. I usually forget the chocolate chips and my kids still love it!!!
These look great! Do you use a regular size muffin pan or the mini muffin pan? Almost looked mini in the picture so thought I would double check.
Yup, those are made in a regular muffin tin.
Wow they look great. I'll have to cut that 2cups of sugar a lot maybe all splenda though.
My sisters said there was a US pumpkin shortage, but here in Canada, at least in Ontario, we had plenty and still do.
i heard there may be a shortage last fall so i grabbed a few extra cans before thanksgiving, but mamafitz's article above says libby's will be out of stock until Sep2010? i'll be sure to grab a few cans if i see it!
Yeah, I figure we'll just have to be pumpkin-less until fall. People used to have to eat more seasonally than we do, and they survived. lol Plus, summer is coming and there will be so much good produce to eat between now and fall, I bet we'll hardly notice the lack of pumpkin.
also, these muffins look fantastic. cant wait to try!
These look great.
I make the pumpkin recipe all the time but use the lighter version on recipezaar:
http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/Lite-or-Light-Pumpkin-Chocolate-Chip-Muffins-2509
I use even a little less sugar than this one calls for. I've also been able to use all white whole wheat flour and sub some of the oil with flaxseed in addition to the applesauce. I find it a very easy recipe to make healthy substitutions with. (And I don't usually find that to be the case with a lot of recipes.)
Thanks for the great substitution idea.
Seriously, I'm making these. I'm putting the ingredients on next weeks grocery list now. They look so amazing and I'm a bit bored with the blueberry muffins my husband is obsessed with, lol.
hah! When I saw the recipe, I said "oooooh" out loud. Yum! Here in France, we've had a long, cold winter (snowed again yesterday) and we're finally coming to the last of the pumpkins. So, if you're someplace warmer, maybe they're just over.
I love the idea of subbing in sweet potatoes too. In fact, we basically eat some kind of carrot, pumpkin, zucchini or banana bread every day for breakfast, so having another veggie in the mix can't hurt.
And I concur with your expert opinion that homemade applesauce is too good for muffins. Scandalous!
YUM! I was just thinking that I had to use up these sweet potatoes...awesome! I can't wait to make these today with my daughter. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Here's a vote for using homemade applesauce for everything! It's so easy to make, you can make it from scraps, or bad apples, or cheap ones, and it only tastes better if you mix apple types. Seriously, folks, why not use homemade?
I also use homemade bread for breadcrumbs. I like making bread more than my household likes eating it. And sometimes the experiments don't work well, like last week's attempt a brioche. Maybe it was the 50% whole wheat flour, maybe it was the fact I had to let it rise in the fridge for several days instead of just overnight (some weeks are like that) but whatever it was, that batch didn't come out well. So bread pudding, french toast, or crumbs it becomes.
Yum! I can't wait to make these! I have been SO wanting pumpkin muffins with none to be found!
These are indeed, awesome! I've been using a similar recipe to use up the pumpkin puree I froze last fall. I cut away the damaged/soft/scorched parts of the ones we use for Halloween, bake the pieces, puree and then freeze in recipe portions. Pie pumpkins have more flavour and are drier, but I believe in using what you have. I sometimes drain mine a bit after thawing. I use similar substitutions to yours, even using yogurt (your homemade recipe, of course) for some of the milk to compensate for the difference in consistancy between my frozen pumpkin and the canned variety. Almost any winter (hard shelled) squash will work for this - acorn, butternut, even hubbard. I have successfully cut back on the sugar and chocolate chips with no complaints. These muffins and pumpkin pie without the pastry are the reason I am planting pie pumpkins this year!
I find that you can pretty much used mashed banana, pumpkin, squash, or applesauce interchangeably in muffins, quick breads, and/or snack cakes. Shredded zucchini can be subbed in for part, but not all, because it's more moist.
Like Karen, I too bake and puree pumpkins (although lately I've been buying Sweet Meat Squash which is both cheaper and even yummier) in the fall and then freeze the pulp in 1-cup portions. (I use ziplock sandwich bags and lay them flat to freeze so they don't take up as much space. Not totally frugal, but space-saving and convenient.) Also, I don't use my Halloween pumpkins since a) they're not a cooking variety and b) after sitting outside for a week or so I don't want to take a chance with mold or ickies.
I guess I should have been a bit more thorough in my explanation about the Halloween pumpkins. They are not specifically bred for cooking - colour and size being the priority for carving, and they do lose something in texture and flavour. This would be an issue when using pumpkin as a vegetable, in pieces , but not so much as a puree and where other flavours predominate.
Most importantly, I agree that almost any produce that has been sitting around unrefrigerated for a week or more, with the skin broken by carving, should not (!) be considered a food item. My pumpkins are surface - carved and out for one night, at temperatures hovering around freezing . All carved areas are what I consider "damaged", and removed before baking - on November 1. As Michelle pointed out, mold would almost certainly be present after a week at any temperature, but not necessarily visible. Her caution is valid.
Thanks for sharing! I used your recipe as a base and changed a number of things because of allergies, etc. at our house and they came out nicely. Yum! Putting some in the freezer for when our new baby arrives in a few days to weeks!
FYI for any vegans or anyone with egg sensitivities - here is what I did:
Use one mashed banana and ...
2 Tablespoons flax seeds ground & mixed with 6 Tablespoons of water in place of the eggs.
Using the banana also allowed me to reduce the sugar to 1 cup!
I used a can of butternut squash because I didn't have pumpkin or sweet potatoes.
I didn't have any chocolate chips either, but I still loved them!
Homemade applesauce is too good to waste on baking. Plus, I just want to eat it all when I make it of can it. 🙂 I perfer to buy the huge containers of unsweetened applesauce at Sams or Coscos for baking. It is cheaper.
But homeamade breadcrumbs are a must. There is always some old crackers or bread that needs to be used up.
Amen. I refuse to do anything with it but eat it plain. lol
THANK YOU! My 2 girls adore my pumpkin chocolate chip muffins (and will devour them 3 times a day, despite all the healthy stuff I put in them). Our local stores ran out of canned pumpkin 6 weeks ago and I've tried 5 new muffin recipes on the kids - and all have been rejected. I never thought of sweet potato!
Well I will have to make them with carrots instead.
That would probably work too! Orange root vegetables and orange squashes all seem to work interchangeably.
Does anyone know if it's 16 oz. of sweet potato by weight or will 2 cups do? I can feel myself thinking too much already! 🙂 Baking can be funny that way, though.
I weighed mine, but I imagine that 2 cups is about the same. Pumpkin probably weighs the same as sweet potato!
Yum! My mother was able to get canned pumpkin right after Christmas, so I had her stock my shelf. Just made these with your variations, except that I used almost 2 tsp. of cinnamon and left out the chocolate chips. I sprinkled the top of each muffin with sugar (yep, even more sugar) right before baking. Delicious!!
Do you leave the muffins in the tins a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack?
I made these today with my daughter and they turned out awesome! We used the pumpkin instead of sweet potato and shared with friends, who all enjoyed them as well. Thanks for the receipe, it's definitely a keeper! Next time, I'll try the sweet potatoe version. 🙂
As a keen follower of your blog, I had to let you know about whats cooling on my kitchen counter at the moment!! BLACK BEAN BROWNIES! I saw it on another blog of a gorl thats trying to use either beans or rice every day , and thought id give it a go!Cant wait to taste them as apparently you wouldnt know the beans are in there!!heres the link :http://everyfoodfits.com/2009/11/12/black-bean-brownies/
I will have to try your mufins too as i love sweet potato!!
As a keen follower of your blog, I had to let you know about whats cooling on my kitchen counter at the moment!! BLACK BEAN BROWNIES! I saw it on another blog of a gorl thats trying to use either beans or rice every day , and thought id give it a go!Cant wait to taste them as apparently you wouldnt know the beans are in there!!heres the link :http://everyfoodfits.com/2009/11/12/black-bean-brownies/
Oh also, the recipe was featured on Dr.Oz so....they must be yum!!
I will have to try your mufins too as i love sweet potato!!
I made these muffins last week with home grown sweet potatoes. We really enjoyed the batch without chocolate chips much better than the ones with chocolate chips. I also tried tossing some sunflower seeds in a few muffins and that added a neat texture and flavor. One note on the recipe - it leaves out milk in the directions - which could cause someone like me to forget to add it (In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs, sugar, pumpkin, MILK and oil until smooth.)
Ohh, sorry about that! I just fixed it. Thanks for letting me know. 🙂
Thanks for posting this recipe! I just got back to find it and will try it out soon! The tips from others look great too.
These are SOOOOOOO good. I make them & stick leftovers (or make a couple of batches-I'll do mini muffins a lot too) in the freezer & then take them out to let them thaw out. They freeze well & still taste great.
If I need them dethawed a little faster I take them out of the freezer bag, put them on a plate & pop them in the microwave on the defrost: fish setting (doesn't get quite as hot) for about 4 minutes for regular sized muffins, 2-3 minutes for minis.
The last time that I made these I actually cut the sugar back to 1 1/2 c. I had the be sure that I didn't leave them in for too long b/c they would get a little more dried out but they were still moist when I didn't leave them in for too long.
Hi Frugal Girl. My wife reads your blog and she recently made these and they were AMAZING!
The humidity is near 100% and heat indexes are 100+ here in the District, and these muffins made me long even more for the fall!
Thanks so much for the sweet potato idea , I've been missing my canned pumpkin for baking! My kids loved these so this will be a great morning breakfast or snack just in time for back to school!
Well I made your Sweet potato Chocolate Chip Muffins. I didn't change a thing.
They are delicious!
I used Hershey's Dark Chocolate Chips. (12 oz bag) (to die for)
My wife also makes both pumpkin and Sweet Potato pies with a (Cream Cheese)
bottom. You can hardly tell which is which. I actually prefer the Sweet Potato
Pie over the Pumpkin. My Son absolutely hates Sweet Potato plain , but he will
tear up both the sweet potato and pumpkin pie and doesn't know the difference.
My wife also has a blueberry version with the Cream Cheese bottom.
I'd been trying to be healthy in my first trimester of my first pregnancy-- so among other things, I bought some sweet potatoes, which I've only done maybe twice before. I could never bring myself to cook them- they were NOT appetizing to me in the least bit. I didn't want to waste them, and I remembered seeing this post months ago-- WOW, delish! Not quite as healthy but waaaay more palatable.... I mean, they have chocolate in them! 🙂 I'm keeping this one in my recipe box!
I had searched high and low for pumpkin, as well, when Crystal first posted this recipe. To my dismay, I found nothing! Thank you , thank you, thank you, for posting this alternative! Blessings!
We occasionally go to the bagel shop, and my boys were really disappointed because they are no longer carrying the pumpkin muffins that were available in Oct/Nov. So I remembered seeing this recipe and decided to try it out. Success! Happy boys, happy husband. I'm even mailing some to a friend who loves pumpkin muffins, as well.
Just made these muffins. I split the oil in half - using applesauce. Instead of whole wheat flour - I used buckwheat flour and craisins for the chocolate chips. I was only able to make 24 muffins but that is enough for us. 😀 Thanks for the recipe!
I used half Splenda, half sugar for this recipe. Very yummy and I appreciate the 1/3 whole wheat as well.
Just made this with some canned sweet potatoes that someone gave us and I was rather skeptical about eating. Thanks for the great recipie!
I think that's a smart idea...I can't imagine that canned sweet potatoes are delightful on their own!