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Early last Friday afternoon, I stopped by my friend’s house to drop off a batch of my pumpkin spice latte energy bites. With how much she enjoys coffee, I thought she’d appreciate the surprise healthy snacks, especially because of her extremely busy schedule that weekend!
When she invited me inside, I found a few of her husband’s friends, as well as one of her sons and his girlfriend, all decked out in a variety of St. Louis Cardinals t-shirts, hats, and sweatshirts. I arrived just before they planned to leave for that night’s baseball game in San Francisco, and because of the city’s infamous freezing cold weather, a stack of blankets sat next to the door as well.
While they waited for the final person to show up at the house, I chatted with my friend and a few of the other gentlemen I hadn’t met before. Since we all follow baseball as obsessively as Wall Street businessmen follow the stock market, our conversation flowed easily and mostly revolved around the Cardinals, our favorite team, and their games for the rest of the season.
I intended to leave the house at the same time as their group and drive around town running errands before heading back to my home office to wrap up some blog work. As the last man parallel parked his car on their street and we all walked out through the garage, my friend’s husband turned to me and asked, “We have an extra ticket to the game; do you want to come?”
I glanced down at my shorts and flip flops, completely torn. “I’d love to, but I’m not exactly dressed for San Francisco…” Hearing my response, my friend suggested that I rode the train into the city an hour later with her son and his girlfriend. Within about two seconds, I had made up my mind and dashed home to change into pants, thick socks and boots, and four layers of shirts and jackets… And tucked a beanie and fleece-lined gloves into my purse.
Before sprinting back out the door, I grabbed a few of these Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Mini Muffins to nibble on while heading to the train station. The baseball game didn’t start for another four hours after we left town (I shared lots of pictures on my @AmyBakesHealthy Snapchat account while there—did you see any of it??), and since I knew my stomach would start rumbling long before then…
I really appreciated that I could grab these mini muffins as a quick and easy snack to tide me over! Even better, they contain no butter, eggs, refined flour or sugar and just 44 calories. That’s definitely my idea of pumpkin bliss!
To make these healthy mini muffins, you’ll start with white whole wheat flour. White whole wheat flour is made by finely grinding a special type of white wheat, whereas regular whole wheat flour comes from a heartier variety of red wheat. This gives white whole wheat flour a lighter taste and texture, similar to that of all-purpose flour, which gives these mini muffins the same texture as cupcakes. Yum!
Note: Whole wheat pastry flour would be a great substitute, and I’ve included my recommend gluten-free blend in the Notes section if you prefer.
Unlike many muffin recipes that call for ½ to 1 full cup of oil (yikes!), this one only requires 1 tablespoon of coconut oil (or butter). Yes, that’s it! The rest of their tender texture comes from a combination of two ingredients. Can you guess what they are?
Greek yogurt and pumpkin purée! If you’ve been around Amy’s Healthy Baking for a while, you know how much I love Greek yogurt. It adds the same moisture as extra butter or oil for a fraction of the calories, and with around 21g of protein per cup, it gives your baked goods a protein boost, too!
The pumpkin purée actually plays three roles in these mini muffins: flavor (although I’m sure you guessed that already!), additional moisture for their tender texture, and an egg replacer. That’s right—these muffins contain no eggs! Which means the batter is perfectly safe to eat raw… If you’re like me and want to sneak a taste test (or, umm, maybe five?). Remember to buy regular ol’ pumpkin purée, not pumpkin pie mix! The latter contains refined sugar, which we’re avoiding.
Instead, you’ll use another one of my favorite ingredients to sweeten these mini muffins: vanilla crème stevia. Stevia is a plant-based, no-calorie sweetener that’s clean eating friendly, and it’s highly concentrated. You only need 1 ½ teaspoons for this entire recipe! This is the kind that I buy because I love its warm vanilla flavor and don’t notice any strange aftertastes like with some other stevia products. You can find it at many health-oriented grocery stores, but I almost always buy it online here because that’s the cheapest price I’ve found. (And you’ll use it in all of these recipes of mine, too!)
And of course, as a chocoholic (that’s why I published my Healthier Chocolate Treats cookbook!), I saved the best for last… The mini chocolate chips! I love using mini chips because their smaller size ensures every bite contains as least one morsel of chocolate. These are my favorite mini chocolate chips because they taste so rich and melt really well!
I’m almost embarrassed by how many of these mini muffins I’ve eaten… As in… I almost didn’t share a single one. ? And when you make your own, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees I’ll see your picture! ?) I’d love to see your mini muffins and feature them in my Sunday Spotlight series!
| Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Mini Muffins | | Print |
- 2 cups (240g) white whole wheat flour or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- 4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp (14g) coconut oil or unsalted butter, melted
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla crème stevia
- ¾ cup (183g) pumpkin purée, room temperature (not pumpkin pie mix)
- ½ cup (120g) Greek yogurt
- ½ cup (120mL) nonfat milk
- ¼ cup (56g) miniature chocolate chips
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, and lightly coat 32 mini muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the coconut oil, vanilla, and vanilla crème stevia. Stir in the pumpkin purée and Greek yogurt, mixing until no large lumps remain. Alternate between adding the flour mixture and milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, and stirring just until incorporated. (For best results, add the flour mixture in 3 equal parts.) Gently fold in 3 tablespoons of mini chocolate chips.
- Divide the batter between the prepared muffin cups, and gently press the remaining chocolate chips into the tops. Bake at 350°F for 12-15 minutes or until the tops are firm to the touch. Cool in the muffin cups for 5 minutes before carefully transferring to a wire rack.
Whole wheat pastry flour, regular whole wheat flour, or all-purpose flour may be substituted for the white whole wheat flour.
For a stronger spice flavor, increase the cinnamon by an additional 1 teaspoon.
I highly recommend using the vanilla crème stevia! It’s my favorite sweetener, and you’ll use it in all of these recipes of mine, too. If you prefer, 8-12 tablespoons of pure maple syrup, honey, or agave may be substituted for the vanilla crème stevia. If using this substitution, omit the milk. The baking time may change.
Any milk may be substituted in place of the nonfat milk.
Be VERY careful if using liners! Generously coat the liners with nonstick cooking spray before adding the muffin batter. This batter will stick to liners like superglue if they aren’t coated with cooking spray.
If you prefer, this recipe will yield 12 standard sized muffins. The baking temperature remains the same. Begin checking on them after about 15 minutes. The muffins will be done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the tops feel firm to the touch.
For a vegan version, use coconut oil instead of butter, substitute additional pumpkin purée (or non-dairy yogurt) for the Greek yogurt, and use your favorite non-dairy milk in place of the nonfat milk.
{gluten-free, vegan option, clean eating, low fat, low calorie, low sugar}
View Nutrition Information
You may also like Amy’s other recipes…
♥ Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bran Muffins
♥ Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread
♥ The Ultimate Healthy Soft & Chewy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
♥ Pumpkin Pie Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
♥ Cranberry Pumpkin Muffins
♥ The Ultimate Healthy Pumpkin Spice Latte
♥ Skinny Single-Serving Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Mug Cake
♥ …and the rest of Amy’s pumpkin recipes!
Amy;
Hi,I am going to make your pumpkin chocolate chip mini muffins again on Monday while my niece and nephew are in school,I can finish up my correspondence course lesson at the kitchen table while the muffins are in the oven.they tasted so good the first time that I made them I am going to make them again and eat one or two mini muffins with my decaffeinated Tetley tea with cream and stevia packet.
Do you think the chocolate frosting will be OK to put on the tops of your mini muffins?
Kim
Amy;
Hi,I am going to make your pumpkin chocolate chip mini muffins again on Monday while my niece and nephew are in school,they tasted so good the first time that I am going to make the muffins again,and this time I am going to make the chocolate frosting to put on the tops of the muffins just before we eat them.
Kim
Aww that means so much to me that you want to make these again Kim! I’m honored! 🙂 I think the chocolate frosting would be excellent on top of these muffins! I can’t wait to hear what your niece and nephew think of them! Good luck with your correspondence course lesson!
Amy;
Hi,the first time I made your chocolate chip pumpkin mini muffins I just sprayed my mini muffin pan with non stick cooking spray and I didn’t have to use the mini muffin liners,they slipped out of the pan really easily.I also used a mini ice cream scoop to put the batter in the mini cups and it turned out really well and just the right amount of the batter went into each cup.
I will also make up your chocolate frosting and I will put the frosting on the tops of each muffin when we eat the mini muffins.I will let you know how it goes with your muffins and the frosting and what they taste like and how they turn out for me OK Amy.
I can’t send you a picture of these muffins with the frosting on them because my photo page on my phone is full of pictures and I don’t know how to get them off of my cell phone.
Kim
Amy;
Hi,I just made your chocolate chip pumpkin mini muffin recipe,they are now in the oven for 15 minutes.I am going to try to make the chocolate frosting if I have all of the ingredients to make it to put on top of the mini muffins after they are finished baking in the oven and cooled ,and then I will let you know how they turned out and how they taste with the frosting on top of them.
Kim
Amy;
Hi,I just made your chocolate chip pumpkin mini muffin recipe,they are now in the oven for 15 minutes.I am going to try to make the chocolate frosting if I have all of the ingredients to make it to put on top of the mini muffins after they are finished baking in the oven and cooled ,and then I will let you know how they turned out and taste.
Kim
Amy;
Hi,I just made your chocolate chip pumpkin mini muffins for the second time and they turned out really well,and they taste really good.
Kim
Hi Kim! I’m SO glad you enjoyed these muffins again! It truly means a lot to me that you’d bake them a second time. Such a high compliment — thank you! 🙂 I love your idea of using a small ice cream scoop to fill the muffin cups. Such a great tip! If you’re able to figure out how to delete pictures from your phone, then I’d love if you emailed me a picture! (But no pressure!!)
Amy;
Hi,i have 9 ingredients to make your pumpkin chocole chip mini muffins but i have no unsalted butter,i only have margarine and no yogurt.Can i still make your mini muffins even though i don’t have those 2 ingredients.I don’t have a spray bottle of oil to spray my mini muffin tins before i put the batter into the tins.Should i wait until i buy the unsalted butter,plain yogurt and cooking spray to use on the tims?
Kim
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Kim! If you don’t have cooking spray, then you can oil or grease your mini muffin pans by hand instead. (Skip the paper liners if you decide to do that!) I typically pour oil on a paper towel and generous rub that inside of each mini muffin cup when oiling a pan by hand. (Reapply oil to the paper towel frequently!) You can substitute margarine for the butter! You can also substitute additional pumpkin for the Greek yogurt, but the muffins will turn out slightly denser. I can’t wait to hear what you think of them! 🙂
Just made these! I used 1/2 cup maple syrup instead of the stevia. Unfortunately it was cold when I added it to the melted butter so the butter turned solid ???? so I stuck the whole butter-syrup mix into the microwave for 15 seconds and it turned out fine. When I mixed in the dry ingredients, it was really thick, more like cookie dough, so I added 3 tablespoons of the milk. I made regular size muffins and they took a while to bake, about 22 minutes. They turned out soft and moist and delicious! I do wish they had more pumpkin spice flavor though, because I couldn’t taste it much. Do you think next time it would be ok to add some homemade spice mix (nutmeg, ginger, allspice) and maybe more pumpkin?
Thanks for all of the amazing healthy recipes!???? I always end up tired and dizzy when I eat a sugary snack for breakfast so these are perfect for me. What would you recommend I try next- the choco chip scones or the chocolate muffins?
I’m so glad you enjoyed these muffins Emily! I’ve done that with cold maple syrup too — and I just do exactly what you describe with the microwave as well. Such a nifty trick! (As long as there aren’t any eggs involved! 😉 ) How did you measure the flour? Did you use measuring cups or a kitchen scale? Since the batter was so thick and the batter was so stiff, I’m wondering if how the flour was measured might be the issue… So I’m really curious to hear how you measured it! 🙂
I’m such a huge chocoholic that I’d probably vote for the chocolate muffins, but you really can’t go wrong with either!! 😉
Thanks for reply, I used a fork to shake the flour into the measuring cup. Do you think it would be ok to add more pumpkin next time (which could also balance out the flour) and maybe the spice blend mentioned above so the pumpkin flavor would shine through a bit more? I do like them overall though so I will try them again maybe with those substitutions.
Thanks so much !
It’s my pleasure Emily — I’m always happy to help! 🙂 I actually think there was too much flour in the muffin batter, which is why it (a) was super thick {it shouldn’t be as stiff as cookie dough!} and (b) didn’t allow for the pumpkin flavor and spices to shine as much as they should {those flavors should be the star of the muffins, not the chocolate chips! 😉 }. Once the flour was in your measuring cup, did you shake the measuring cup back and forth at all? And did you use white whole wheat flour or something else?
Here’s a great idea for everyone. When baking muffins I use parchment cupcake liners. No need to spray anything in them and of course absolutely no sticking! I get them at my local grocery store. Greatest thing ever!
Thanks so much for sharing Deborah! Such a great tip! 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think if you try making these muffins!