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. Â
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: Âľ cup (90g) millet flour, ÂĽ cup (35g) brown rice flour, ÂĽ 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}
YAY for chocolate and pumpkin!! These look and sound absolutely amazing! Pinned 🙂
Thank you so much for the sweet comment and pin Chelsea! 🙂 Your recent chocolate + pumpkin muffins were one of my inspirations. They looked so delicious!
I love going back and visiting, especially my college professors. So nice to see them after a long time!
BTW, you’re such a genius for these. HOLY COW!
Thanks Dorothy!! 🙂 I’m not quite to the point where visiting my college professors is quite as special… I lived 5 houses away from my main adviser for the past 2 years! Whoops… But it’s nice to know that it’ll be lots of fun someday! I’m guessing your favorite profs to visit are in the math department, right? 🙂
Wow, Amy, you’ve built up so much content on here to have so many related recipes, and your photography is top-notch! These muffins do look very healthy and pumpkin-y, the truffle part especially– I’m amazed that it has so little sugar (just the agave) for that much cocoa powder. I’m very interested in recipes that give me a chocolate fix with little to no sugar, I’ll have to give these a try!
Thanks Mary! You’re so sweet to say so. 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think of the truffles if you give them a try! I’m obsessed with how dark they are and never want to share… I didn’t even share a single one of these muffins. Whoops!
what a fun muffin!
Thanks Sarah!
What can I use pls instead of agave? Is there a way how I can do pumpkin puree instead of buying it as I have never seen any….thanks and well done as always….you are so good when it comes to healthy sweet food !
Thanks Roberta! You can easily substitute maple syrup or honey for the agave. I haven’t tried making my own pumpkin purĂ©e, but I know there are quite a few great tutorials out there. The Pioneer Woman and Alton Brown both have good recipes for that!
The chocolate surprise inside makes me insanely happy.
Aww, thanks Brittany! 🙂
i have coconut flour for a gluten free flour but sometimes the coconut flavor is a it strong in some recipes. Do you think in this recipe it will be masked by the other spices or should I pair it with another flour?
There will probably be a noticeable coconut undertone, but I’m not entirely sure how pronounced it would be. In my experience, it’s best to pair it with another flour or two. I generally only add a few tablespoons (remember, 1 tablespoon of coconut flour is worth 3 tablespoons of any other flour because it’s so absorbent!), and you could probably sub it in for the brown rice and/or tapioca flour. (4 teaspoons instead of the 1/4 cup!) I hope you enjoy the muffins Morgan!