Two weeks ago while running lunchtime errands in my hometown, my route drove past my old high school. I glanced toward the buildings, then, on a whim, twisted the wheel to ease into the turning lane. After parking, I walked around the edge of the deserted campus, the students all tucked away in their classrooms, and pulled open the office door.
I navigated around the cubicles to the last one at the very end of the hallway, stopped in front of the familiar lady, smiled, and said, “Hi!” She glanced up and offered a polite “Hello” back before doing a double-take and exclaiming, “Ohmygosh—HELLO!!”
The woman, Miss P, had been my very first “second mommy” while growing up. My real mom dropped me off at her house every day during the summers, and she baby-sat me while Mom worked part-time. I grew up alongside her three boys as “the daughter she never had,” going bowling, eating bread with butter, and picking apples off of their backyard tree. The first day of school was always a tear-filled event since I couldn’t spend all morning at her house anymore!
When she recognized me, Miss P’s entire face lit up, just like in the movies, which completely warmed my heart. She came around the cubicle divider to give me a huge hug, and we spent the next few minutes catching up and trading stories. That was just the sweetest surprise to both of our days!
Just like my visit to the high school, these healthy muffins have a surprise inside too… A huge dark chocolate truffle! Yes, that’s right. A decadent treat hiding inside your breakfast! And with their super soft texture, these Chocolate Truffle Pumpkin Muffins practically taste like cupcakes—pure breakfast heaven.
Since September hit and fall officially began on Tuesday, pumpkin treats have officially taken over Pinterest and my kitchen. Cookies, smoothies, parfaits, lattes, s’mores… And just about every blogger has posted a chocolate chip pumpkin muffin recipe.
As much as I wanted to do the same thing, I figured you’d probably be bored of those already and possibly be craving something new. Don’t get me wrong—I still might post a chocolate chip pumpkin ______ recipe this fall. (I just haven’t quite filled in the blank yet!) But for now, I decided to be different.
Well, sort of. I still love the chocolate + pumpkin combination, and since y’all seem to adore muffins on Instagram, I stuck an entire {healthy} chocolate truffle inside of my muffins instead!
These chocolate truffles are beyond easy. You could make them in your sleep! (Brings a whole new meaning to “sweet dreams…”) Just mix 4 ingredients together in a bowl: no chocolate to melt, no heavy cream to heat. It’s really important to measure the cocoa powder correctly, and I highly recommend using a kitchen scale if you own one! If you pack the cocoa powder into the measuring cup, you’ll end up with 1.5 times as much and won’t have enough liquid ingredients in the bowl to balance it out. Dry crumbly truffles = not good!
Note: If this does happen to you, it’s not the end of the world. Add an extra teaspoon or two of applesauce until all of the cocoa powder is fully incorporated.
To really pack the pumpkin flavor into the muffins, I skipped the egg, decreased the butter, and added extra pumpkin purée instead. You’ll need a full cup of it—and not the pie filling! Without an egg, it’s incredibly easy to make these muffins vegan: simply swap out the butter and milk for your favorite non-dairy substitutes.
The muffin batter is really thick, which is required to support the weight of the truffle. You’ll spread about 2/3 of the batter into the bottoms of the muffin cups before pressing a truffle into the center of each (they should look like this); then plop the remaining batter on top. You want to smooth it out with a spatula and smoosh together the bottom and top layers of batter on the sides to seal in the truffle. Nobody will suspect a chocolaty thing!
They look so innocent—like plain autumn-y goodies—but these Chocolate Truffle Pumpkin Muffins hide a decadent surprise inside! Between the spiced muffin and indulgent truffle, I can never decide which I enjoy more… Sometimes I pull out the truffle and nibble on the two parts separately, sometimes I eat them together, and most of the time, I devour two entire muffins so I can do both!
No wonder they’ve already disappeared…
These take chocolate chip pumpkin muffins to a whole new level! They’re incredibly moist and tender, and the dark chocolate truffle inside is a fun surprise. Store any leftovers in a zip-topped bag in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Reheat individual muffins in the microwave for 12-15 seconds.
- To prepare the truffles, stir together the cocoa powder, applesauce, agave, and vanilla in a small bowl. Refrigerate for 20 minutes; then roll into 8 spheres. (The chilling can be done while preparing the muffin batter.)
- Preheat the oven to 325°F, and lightly coat 8 standard-sized muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray.
- To prepare the muffins, whisk together the flour and next 6 ingredients (through salt) in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, stir together the butter, pumpkin, vanilla, and maple syrup. Alternate between adding the flour mixture and the milk to the pumpkin mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, and stirring just until incorporated. (For best results, add the flour mixture in 3 equal parts and the milk in 2 equal parts.)
- Divide about 2/3 of the batter between the prepared muffin cups. Press a chocolate truffle into the center of each; then top with the remaining batter. Bake at 325°F for 23-27 minutes, or until lightly golden and barely firm to the touch. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.
Notes: For the gluten-free flour, I used as follows: ¾ cup (90g) millet flour, ¼ cup (35g) brown rice flour, ¼ cup (30g) tapioca flour, and 1 teaspoon (3g) xanthan gum.
It’s incredibly important to measure the cocoa powder correctly! If the cocoa powder is pressed into the measuring cup, there will be up to 1.5 times as much, and the truffle mixture will be too dry and won’t fully come together. If that happens, add another 1-3 teaspoons of applesauce until all of the cocoa powder is fully incorporated.
For a vegan version, substitute coconut oil or Earth Balance buttery sticks in place of the butter and your favorite non-dairy milk for the nonfat.
I used a fairly light hand with the spices. If you prefer a more pronounced flavor, feel free to add more!
{gluten-free, vegan, clean eating, low fat, low calorie}
Suppose I wanted to add an egg for protein, how would that affect the recipe?
You could decrease the pumpkin purée by about 3 tablespoons, but the pumpkin flavor won’t be quite as strong. I’d love to hear how that turns out if you try it Kelly!
Hi Amy!
Do you have any subs for the apple sauce? I’ve heard mashed banana may work?
Thanks 🙂
Banana could work! For the applesauce in the truffle mixture, I’d also recommend trying milk. Start with about ¼ cup and add an additional ½ to 1 tablespoon of agave (to compensate for the missing sweetness of applesauce). You may need a touch more milk, but that should be a good starting point. I hope you enjoy the muffins Aarti!
Amy, I really LOVE your healthy recipes. I tried your Pumpkin Pie Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies and they are incredibly delicious. I shared with my friends and they all loved those cookies. Thank you for being so generous to share your healthy recipes. For this Chocolate Truffle Pumpkin Muffins recipe, can I use buck wheat flour as gluten-free flour?
I’m so glad you enjoyed the cookies Jin! I don’t have much experience with buckwheat flour and don’t feel comfortable vouching for it as a substitute, but if you’ve been able to substitute it in other muffin recipes for whole wheat flour, it may work in this recipe as well. I hope you enjoy the muffins if you try them!
Hi, Amy! My friend is throwing a party soon and I was interested in bringing pumpkin-flavored muffins/cupcakes as a dessert; however, she (for some unknown reason) does not like chocolate AT ALL. Would this recipe still turn out well if I made the muffin base without the truffle, and topped them with cream cheese frosting? What kind of changes, if any, would I need to make? Thank you so much for any help, and for sharing your wonderful recipes!
I’m actually posting a pumpkin cake recipe later this week Natalie, so if the party isn’t for a few days, I’d recommend using that recipe instead of trying to modify these. 🙂
Wow what a combination ,chocolate and pumpkin .the look so awesome.
Thanks Alan! I’d love to hear what you think if you try these muffins! 🙂