Gluten Free Triple Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins
GF Triple Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins, Photo by Kate Chan
Last week I couldn’t get enough pumpkin…. or chocolate… or sleep. But that last one is definitely not worth blogging about (unless any of you have tips on easing a toddler out of nightmares or getting a baby to sleep longer than 6 hours a night – my ears are open!).
The Chicklet and her little sis The Peanut are definitely getting into more of a routine around here. It’s often synchronous. But the moments of synchronicity do not involve ones that are easy for Momma. Other functions of theirs (those that would make Momma’s life easier) are out of whack. For example: bodily functions/needs? Synchronous. Sleep? Not so much. Sometimes these asynchronous moments are the best of the best moments of the day, however. I get time with each of them without the other feeling slighted or in need of attention when I can’t give it. But mostly, it just keeps me busy, busy, busy, busy….. you get the picture. I am fearful of the sheer exhaustion I am bound to feel when I return to work in a couple of weeks. It makes me sad just to think about losing time with my girls and never getting these moments back. But I have to work. That’s just the way it is. After all, diapers, wipes, and formula are not funded by the trees in my backyard. No matter how hard I might wish that were true.
So, instead of being an Eeyore, the girls and I are seizing upon the time given and running with it. This means that Zo and I are often in the kitchen creating something new (oh man – we’ve been on a roll lately too!) or in the living room creating new sensory experiences of my little wet-dirty-messy-phobic girl. (Something tells me my mom never had to encourage me to get messy, by the way.)
Zoe has a new found love of pumpkins. She points them out to me everywhere we go (much like a broken record until you acknowledge the appearance of yet another pumpkin). Gosh, I’m glad it’s Halloween the season for pumpkins around here. We are able to spot find them at every intersection, store, package, flyer in the mail, and crack in the cement. (I bet you don’t have a pumpkin-shaped crack in your driveway, do you? I didn’t know we had one until the other day. To be sure, I’m not certain we DO have one… but Zoe insists that it is out there…. somewhere.)
The other day, we made those delicious pumpkin pancakes because of her obsession with both pumpkins and the book. The reason why I even had pumpkin (canned at the time, until she ate her way through that with pancakes, muffins, and yogurt-pumpkin smoothies) was because she spotted it at the grocery store
Photo by MississippiMom on Flickr
Since she has been requesting to ride in the “special carts” at the grocery store, she has eye-level access to A LOT of things. Thankfully, we skip a ton of the crap-filled gluten-filled aisles and hit the main drags and produce sections most often. Truthfully, I hate these grocery carts. It feels much like you are pushing a small bus without any turn radius down the aisle. We used to indulge Zo when we would go out with these rides every once in a while. She loves them. But once Rory came along, there was no other option if I am alone.
Sometimes I carry Rory in a Beco baby carrier
After that, we turned that freakishly giant cart around and Momma picked up two little sugar pumpkins to make some pumpkin fries (both savory and another bunch of sweet ones) for the babe. Those were delicious too. (That post will have to wait for another day.) But the recipe we enjoyed that afternoon were these Triple Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins. OH, delightful! They have just enough chocolate to let me ease my way out of guilty-Momma from the morning’s trauma (not the only one, mind you… she did get knocked down after walking in to a swinging door… and I couldn’t get to her in time). BUT, it also has some decent whole grains and pumpkin to boot – so I don’t add to my guilt to think I’m serving complete junk to my babe.
Oh! I am rambling today! You didn’t come here for my ramble. Just the recipe, right? K… moving on then. Here’s the recipe. Do let me know how you like them!
Gluten Free Triple Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins
Makes 12 standard muffins
Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup cream cheese
1/3 cup pureed pumpkin
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/3 – 1/2 cup of milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoons cinnamon
pinch of salt
1 cup GF flour mix
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup chocolate chips or chunks
1/3 cup cocoa nibs
Directions:
- Preheat your over to 375F.
- Cream together butter, cream cheese and sugar. Add pumpkin and mix again.
- Add eggs and 1/3 cup of milk. Mix again. (Reserve the remaining milk for the end, if you need it at all.)
- Add vanilla, cinnamon, salt, GF flour mix, baking powder and cocoa powder. Mix again.
- Check your consistency. If it is thin (like cake batter) DON’T add the extra milk. If it is thicker than a regular muffin batter, add the remaining milk.
- Stir in the chocolate chunks and cocoa nibs.
- Fill muffin cups 2/3 of the way.
- Bake for 25 – 30 minutes or until completely baked through and set. (A toothpick test should only have ooey-gooey chocolate from the melted chunks, not batter goo if they are done.) Remove from the oven and allow it to cool for 5 – 10 minutes before eating.
Try NOT to eat them all in the same day. We barely managed to do that. (Thank goodness!)
Happy GF Chocolate AND Pumpkin Joy from our house to yours!
~Kate