Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Whoo, these might give the pear muffins some competition when it comes to my favorite muffin!  They are so so good!  I've made these a few times but always forget to capture them for the blog.  When my friend Katie came to visit a few weekends ago I decided to make some muffins beforehand to have for breakfast that morning since I knew she was going to have to leave early in the morning and we probably wouldn't have time to make breakfast.  I basically just use the same pumpkin bread recipe I make, but add chocolate chips.  With half the sugar, half whole wheat flour, and a full cup of pumpkin I don't feel too guilty about these!  We like them best at room temperature when the chocolate chips are still whole, but soft.  Perfect with a glass of milk!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

adapted from Pumpkin Bread

yields 12 muffins

3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cups whole wheat flour (you can use all purpose if you want)
1/2 teaspoon of salt

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup pumpkin puree

1/2 cup olive oil

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup water

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon allspice (didn't have so I used pumpkin pie spice)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

3/4 cup chocolate chips

1 Preheat oven to 350°F.  Sift together the flour, salt, sugar, and baking soda.
2 Mix the pumpkin, oil, eggs, 1/4 cup of water, and spices together, then combine with the dry ingredients, but do not mix too thoroughly.  Stir in the nuts and chocolate chips.
3 Pour into 12 lined muffin tins.  Bake 20-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Cool muffins on a cooling rack.