You guys really know how to make a gal feel special. Thanks so much for all the birthday tweets and well wishes yesterday. I am very excited to meet so many of you in a few weeks at BlogHer Food. I feel so blessed to have so many friends in my life. Happy dance to that…..and these Pumpkin Chocolate Oat muffins!
Some of us are getting very excited. There are summer people and there are winter people. I am a cool craver. Thankfully Fall has sort of arrived (at least in Southern California it has.) The air is getting a bit crisp & there is a chill in the air. Tweets have been flying around about pumpkin, butternut squash, nutmeg, cinnamon, apple pie, warm muffins & scones. I am sure hot chocolate & sugar cookies are around the corner too. I was so excited to whip up a batch of “Fall” this week.
There is nothing like opening your lunchbox to find small homemade treats inside. The kids are back to school and I wanted to make them a little something special to munch with their healthy lunches. I knew they would be seeing the other kids with store bought cookies & packaged treats. I did not want them to feel left out, so I make sure to provide them with sweets that they could feel good about. They have been enjoying these muffins very much.
I made mini muffins that are the perfect size for little hands and a nice size for a small sweet bite. Have 2 or 3 and you have a nice sized snack or mini meal. I did not make them too sweet & I chose my usual sugar free stevia. When enjoyed responsibly these muffins are a great whole grain guilt free treat.
I added real chocolate sprinkles to these muffins to add a bit of color, flavor & chocolatey greatness. These things are so neat…if you can’t find them you can use chocolate shavings or chips instead. These muffins would also taste great with peanut butter or cinnamon chips too.
Enjoy your pumpkin muffins with a cool glass of milk or a steamy cup of coffee. My friend Carrie at Deliciously Organic just posted recipes for homemade creamers. You can quickly whip one of those up to enjoy with this recipe. She has five flavors to choose from. I am tossed between the Cinnamon Strudel & Pumpkin Spice.
What are your favorite ways to use pumpkin? And what is the difference between “sprinkles” and “jimmies” anyway??
Are you a Fall/Winter or Spring/Summer person?
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Pumpkin Muffin Recipe Links
- Jeweled Pumpkin Muffins Habitually Hungry
- Maple Pumpkin Muffins A Bowl of Mush
- Pumpkin Muffins & Gingersnap Cinnamon Chip Streusel Sugar Plum
- Pumpkin Spice Muffins with Cream Cheese Frosting Pioneer Woman
- Whole Wheat Pumpkin Spice Muffins with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Glaze Recipe Girl
These are just gorgeous! Love the photos of your kids, what cuties!! Talk soon 🙂
Love these Marla! I am ready for fall baking and I think I will start here!
I love pumpkin anything this time of year – these look great!
These look amazing! I love all of these ingredients, and I can’t wait to make these! Hope you had a great birthday!
These look fabulous! I love the topping and sprinkles.
Brilliant and delicious!
Happy Belated Birthday, Gorgeous! I hope it was a fabulous one. My birthday is in September too so I always love to see other September babies. Maybe that’s why we love the fall so much? 😉
The muffins are beautiful! I love the oats and real chocolate sprinkles on top!
Gorgeous muffins! I am a sucker for pumpkin-based goods. Your daughter is a sweetheart!
Cheers,
Rosa
I love these! A major plus that they are healthy too. Like you, I’m a cool weather person as well, so this recipe is a great way to kick off Fall.
Gosh, I dont know why I never thought of it before: pumpkin and chocolate! How divine!!! These muffins must be awesome 😀
Happy belated birthday daaaaaaaahling!
*birthday kisses* HH
Those muffins look like the perfect way to start a crisp fall morning like we’ve been having in SoCal! Thanks so much for sharing these, Marla. And happy belated birthday!! I hope you had a great time celebrating, away from the kitchen! 😉
Wonderful nutritious muffins – I love the combo of pumpkin and chocolate!
Your daughter is precious. I bought my first batch of pumpkin at Sprouts yesterday. I gave in- Summer is over. I couldn’t find pumpkin for the longest time, I’m so glad it’s back in the stores. I make pumpkin oatmeal for breakfast everyday. I had a chance to meet with Rachel… looking forward to our event.
Caberneti Spaghetti Nests with Crispy Egg and Golden Garlic
http://2besatisfied.blogspot.com/2010/09/summer-fest-caberneti-spaghetti-nests.html
~Chef Louise
I want some now! I love all things pumpkin!
I’m still waiting for the “crisp” part of our theoretical fall here in FL. However, I’m definitely in the mood for these wonderful looking fall muffins with all the good stuff in them: pumpkins, nuts, WW, oats, and the flax seed I sneak into so many of my own recipes. Well done, Marla, and your children’s school mates will be so jealous. I am!
Barbara: I am sure the “crisp” factor in FL is rare indeed! You can pretend you have fall with the seasonal flavors.
Dara: We will love the crisp, cool weather in SF next month. Especially when we are out on our early morning walks 🙂
Valerie: Your initiative at school is wonderful. The Friday “Nutritious Lunch Program” sounds unique & the perfect template for what other schools should follow. You are a leader with your students & you voice should be heard by others. The lunch boxes that are filled with pre-packaged foods scare me on many levels. Often the ingredients are of poor quality & the amount of toss away waste is disgraceful for our environment. Keep up the great work my friend! I hope your students enjoy these muffins as much as we did.
Joanne: I know, pumpkin is a year round food for us too!
LOVE how creative and healthy these are Marla – you go girl! oh and Happy Birthday 🙂
great fall treats, perfect for the kiddos and adults
sweetlife
I love chocolate and pumpkin together, it’s an awesome combo! The oats make them so rustic, YUM!
I knew I always liked you – I am a fall girl myself and am so excited that the season is arriving. The presentation of these muffins is really lovely.
I’m also enjoying the cooler weather- Love these tiny pumpkin muffins!
Marla!
I have added this to my muffin recipes for my students to make at school in a couple of weeks. It is perfect… not sure I will let them add the chocolate sprinkles (because we do cupcakes, too – and I like to keep the muffin unit free of any sweet stuff) but definitely love the idea. It drives me CRAZY at school when kids either have no lunch at all, or buy a lunch or have a bag filled with “one of these” and “one of these” and “one of these” – everything purchased at the Supermarket. There is nothing like a delicious, nutritious, homemade lunch. (I have a Nutritious Lunch Program at school that students make during the week at our Catering Club and we sell to students and teachers on Fridays.)
BRAVO…. and this recipe looks so good! I cannot waitt!
🙂
Valerie
Happy belated birthday chica! Hope you had an AWESOME day!
God I love pumpkin. I use it year round but I’m always excited for fall because it’s much more acceptable to eat it on a daily basis. These muffins sound awesome! I love that they are filled with such good-for-you ingredients!
These pumpkin muffins look and sound so unique and pretty! Just right and perfect for the autumn! Excellent photography, as always!
I’m ready for Autumn, Pumpkins and these delicious looking muffins!!!
Ahhhh, what a sweetie. I’ve got pumpkin on the brain for sure… and apples… and maple… and butternut squash. Definitely feels like fall already here in SoCal (so weird!)
These look wonderful- I have to say that I’ve never, ever thought to put sprinkles inside muffins before! Cute idea. I think sprinkles are W Coast & Jimmies are E Coast. That’s what my husband tells me.
See ya soon Sweetie!
Oi– I love pumpkin muffins (actually I’m obsessed with pumpkin). Sprinkles are a nice touch.
These look amazing. I love that there is that ever so slight fall hint in the air too, here in central Florida. On some mornings the temp is actually below 80, even though the humidity is still through the roof. This is such a treat for your kids, I am sure all the other kids were jealous, or at least should be, LOL.
Fall rules in my book and I love pumpkin! It’s right up there with chocolate, my two all time favorites. I stocked up on pumpkin last year when I heard there was a shortage. Never did see the shortage in my stores but I sure got lots of pumpkin.
These muffins look wonderful and I have to try them-as soon as my new oven arrives!
See ya at Blogher!
these look amazing, i’m in the mood for some pumpkin, i may try them today 🙂 thanks for sharing!
these look off the chart awesome, and totally easy to adapt to being GF and vegan. these are a winner!!!
and your lil one…TOO darling for words 🙂
xoxo
Yes, I feel guilty for hoarding all of the canned pumpkin I could find last year, but I lose the guilt when I can make recipes like this. Delicious!
Girl, I must apologize for being late with birthday wishes. Know that my tardiness is not a reflection on my appreciation for all the wonderful things you are! What a great mom, food blogging inspiration, and beautiful woman you are. Happy birthday and thank you so much for sharing this great recipe. xoxoxo
i’m in denial that pumpkin-eating time is upon us. i can’t resist much longer though, especially after seeing goodies like these!
This is a wonderful treat to welcome the Fall season; I wish I could say it is here too but I spent the day at the pool yesterday! Love anything with pumpkin and the choc sprinkles is such as cute touch!
Marla…at a certain period, I’m sure I’ll be having more pumpkin than I can handle…hence, just in time to try out this alluring recipe. I also like the fact that you mentioned oat flour…something I’ve been meaning to look into.
BTW…your photos are very capturing ;o)
Flavourful wishes,
Claudia
Everyone, you can never have too much pumpkin! Cheers to those of you who over stocked your pantries last year with this excellent ingredient. I don’t love canned, but sure do when it comes to pumpkin!!
They look amazingly good! And I am kind of the opposite to you as far as weather goes. I’m excited that it’s becoming Spring here! 😀
love these!!! They are great that you can just grab them and run out the door when your pressed for time for breakfast 🙂
Wow, these pumpkin muffins with chocolate look awesome, so cute and so yummie…perfect for the season 🙂
Hey Marla, Happy Belated Birthday! I love pumpkin – all year round and in savories as well as sweets 🙂 Definitely need to make some muffins soon. Just a quick question on your stevia since I am still getting used to baking with it – are you using the pure stevia extract (which I know is very concentrated and you only need a tiny pinch) or a stevia blend which is bulked up for volume? Thanks!
Cara, that is such a great question! I like to use the pure stevia powder, NuNaturals makes a great “no carb” blend that does not have the fillers & binders. I try to come up with recipes that don’t need the traditional volume of other sweeteners. Here is a link to the stevia powder I like the best – http://astore.amazon.com/familyfreshcooking-20/detail/B001G7QWK8
If you experiment and come up with any more suggestions & input please share with us. I think stevia is the next big thing to hit the world of baking.
Hi Marla! Adorable post! Will be making your muffins soon (huge pumpkin user- savory and sweet applications). Hey, hope to see you at BlogHerFood!
Chris: I think I will be seeing you at Camp Blogaway as well on the 25th….I hope? Yes-BlogHer will be a blast, I am so happy you are going too.
These look great, I can’t wait to try them! I love the fall and making recipes that remind me of the season. Is anyone still having trouble finding canned pumpkin? I know there was a shortage for a while…
Karen: I had no problem last year finding canned pumpkin & this year I have been seeing it everywhere. Hopefully no shortage around the corner. If there is you will see me going old school. I’ll be roasting & steaming up giant pumpkins.
Are you kidding me?! These look amazing! Pumpkin is definitely one of the reasons why I love this season so much! Bring on fall!
Oh my gosh, I love pumpkin ANYTHING! I’ll have to try that recipe ASAP!
Your muffins look awesome! I love all the stuff you sprinkled on top, it adds nice added texture and flavor. Your daughter is such a cutie! I wish I had her pretty hair.
These are so fun! Just what I was looking for to give a little spin to a regular pumpkin muffin. And super healthy. I think I may have goofed up, though- I just assumed that any sweetener would substitute for the stevia, but after I subbed it out for a tablespoon of brown sugar, they did not turn out very sweet. Fine for my tooth, actually, but I think the people I am planning on giving them to won’t appreciate them as much. Turned out beautiful, though! Thanks!
Definitely ate three of these little guys with my pumpkin greek yogurt. Made my morning! Thanks again! Do you mind if I put pictures up and link back to your recipe on my blog?
This looks like something my family would enjoy!
Ok, so I know it’s the middle of a hot July, but I made these lady night and am in love. The leftover batter that wouldn’t fit in my mini muffin pan got baked up into a mini DONUT pan! And I also wanted to let you know I made these vegan and used a flax egg and it worked wonderfully. Thanks for the recipe 🙂
Ahhhhhh! LOVE that you had the ambition to go with this recipe in July! Your adaptations sound awesome & I love the donut idea!!!