Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

What does one do when stuck indoors for hours days on end? Yesterday, I vegged — football and a killer hangover ensured that I did not leave the couch for most of the day. Today, I went on a pre-Sandy walk, then worked from home, then … I’m BORED. It’s been two days of being mostly shut in so far, and while I smartly evacuated my box-sized apartment for my aunt’s, I’m still getting restless.

So naturally, I baked something. My cousin is a big fan of all things pumpkin, and has been perfecting his pumpkin bread recipe for months. I’m a pain in the booty and decided to make them into muffins — pumpkin chocolate chip muffins to be exact. The recipe is a cinch to make and produces plush, warm-spiced pillows of pumpkin-y goodness, studded with melty chocolate. It’s a bite of fall, a reminder of sunny, crisp days in this waterlogged mess.

But hey, at least I have muffins now.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
Adapted from All Recipes

There’s enough batter here for 12 muffins and 1 9-x-5 loaf, so I’ve included instructions for both. Alternately, you could make 2 9-x-5 loaves or 24 muffins, but I didn’t want to have to wait for the first batch to bake. ‘Cause, you know, I’m not stuck at home or anything …

– 1 15-ounce can pumpkin puree

– 4 large eggs

– 1 cup vegetable oil

– 2/3 cup milk

– 3 cups white sugar

– 2 cups whole wheat flour

– 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

– 2 teaspoons baking soda

– 1-1/2 teaspoons salt

– 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

– 1-1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg

– 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

– 1 cup chocolate chips

1) Preheat the oven to 350 F. Butter a 9-x-5 loaf pan and drop paper or foil baking cups into a 12-cup muffin tin.

2) In a large bowl, stir the pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, milk and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. Fold the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended, then fold in the chocolate chips.

3) Scoop batter into the muffin tin until each well is 3/4 of the way full. Pour the remaining batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake the muffins for 25-30 minutes, turning halfway. Bake the loaf for 45-50 minutes.