30 seconds too late

Someone asked me if I would help them out by providing some muffins for an event. We chatted about what to make and settled on some pumpkin muffins. I happened to have some canned pumpkin guts in the pantry (doesn't everyone?) I pulled it out and opened it. I like to make sure everything from the pantry looks good after it is open before doing mise en place for all the known (daily used) baking ingredients. I opened the can, it looked good, and 30 seconds later I get a message, never mind, I don't need them.

Blargh!

So now I have an open can of pumpkin guts and I'm wondering what to do. I had scanned recipes for pumpkin chip muffins, so I decided half the can would go to that endeavor and half would go to a pumpkin pie. The pie will make the hubby very happy as it is one of his favs. So I looked at a few different recipes and came up with this. I might add some buttermilk next time to up the moisture. But I wanted to avoid the huge amounts of oil that are in many pumpkin bread/muffin recipes. It was a huge success. And when I asked my son for a nibble of his he replied, no, you can get your own.

And in case you can't tell, I'm not really a pumpkin fan, hence pumpkin guts. I gave it a proper name in the recipe.

Pumpkin chocolate chip muffins

4 eggs
1 cup vanilla sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar
15 ounces of canned pumpkin
1 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice *
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups minichocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly butter two 12 cup muffin pans, or line with paper baking cups.


In a medium bowl, mix the pumpkin, eggs sugar, pumpkin and oil and vanilla.
In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, pumpkin pie space and salt. Blend inthe egg and pumpkin mixture. Fold in the chocolate chips. Using a large scoop, scoop into muffin pans.

Bake in the preheated oven 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
 
Remove muffins from pans, and cool on a wire rack.

* Yes, I really do the individual spices and the pumpkin pie spice. I purchase mine from http://www.worldspice.com/ and it contains Nutmeg, Clove, Ginger, Cinnamon and Mace. They are a great spot, check them out!