I was at a champagne and dessert baby shower a week ago where the hostess served the most delicious and decadent candies, cakes and pastries. My favorite by far was a pumpkin chocolate chip cake that she had made herself. Since my favorite food item of the holidays is pumpkin pie, I was immediately drawn to this dessert. I love the sweet and spicy elements of pumpkin pie from the cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. Her cake used all the same spices as you would use in a pie, but with the ingenious addition of chocolate chips for richness and added sweetness. I could not get over how moist the cake was. She told me that she only uses half the amount of oil that the recipe called for and substituted the other half with applesauce. I have heard of this being done to lighten desserts and think it is a great trick. I favor using non-fat vanilla yogurt to accomplish the same goal. I think it also keeps sweets moist while lessening the fat, plus I tend to have yogurt on hand in the fridge more often than applesauce. Either one works great. This recipe is very versatile as you can dress this up by baking it as a cake using a fancy bundt pan, as the hostess did, or else it can easily be made into a more casual loaf or muffins. When I recreated this at home after the shower I chose to make muffins, both regular and mini size, for better portion control. Since I am only cooking for two, baking a cake is not very efficient as it will go to waste. Muffins, however, can be wrapped individually in plastic wrap and frozen in a ziploc bag. That way you can enjoy the fruits of your single baking effort multiple times. Try these served warm and topped with frozen yogurt or ice cream for dessert.
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Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins Ingredients: 2 cups all purpose flour 1 1/2 cups sugar 2 teaspoons baking soda 1 teaspoon each of ground spices: cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and ginger 1 teaspoon salt 1 15 oz. can pure pumpkin (unseasoned) 4 eggs 1/2 cup oil 1/2 cup applesauce or 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons vanilla non-fat yogurt 1 12 oz. bag chocolate chips Instructions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and spices in a large mixing bowl. Add the wet ingredients and mix thoroughly. Fold in the chocolate chips. Add batter to a greased 12 muffin tin. This recipe will make approximately 16-18 large muffins, 12 large and 12 mini muffins, or 1 bundt cake. Bake for approximately 25 minutes for large muffins, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted. Mini muffins will only take about 15 minutes. A cake will take 45 minutes to 1 hour. |
Absolutely delicious! One of the best things to quench the sweet tooth morning or night...and they aren't heavy at all!
Posted by: Chelsea Orr | October 08, 2009 at 07:53 PM