Fall Pumpkin Muffins!

I volunteered last week to help bake pumpkin muffins at Mr. E's preschool.  I had two groups and it was intense having 6 kids aged 3-5 helping me bake.  I tried to be silly, tell them to share, and teach them what the ingredients do in a baking solution.  Mostly I was just trying to not teach them my terrible habit of not measuring ANYTHING!  I'm not sure how I get away with it when I bake but it seems to turn out!

So I managed to memorize the recipe and have made it twice since preschool last Thursday.  It's a good one!  I never liked pumpkin pie but I've finally realized it is not the pumpkin, it's the texture.  Also chocolate and pumpkin are excellent together.  They are not as close as peanut butter and chocolate but still very close friends.

But shhh... don't tell the teacher I added chocolate chips to her fabulous recipe.


Pumpkin (Chocolate Chip) Muffins:

Dry ingredients:
1/2 cup corn meal
3/4 cup rice flour
1/2 cup brown sugar (or my trick white sugar and a drizzle of molasses into the wet ingredients)
1/2 tbsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp sea salt

Wet ingredients:
1/2 can of pumpkin puree
3/4 cup almond milk
2 tbsp oil (I used olive or vegetable)

1/2 - 1 cup chocolate chips

1.  Preheat oven to 375 F and grease a muffin tin.
2.  Mix together dry ingredients.
3.  Mix together wet ingredients in a separate bowl.
4.  Form a well in the dry ingredients and add in wet.  Mix until just combined.
5.  Add in chocolate chips if desired.
6.  Bake for about 15 minutes (depending on your oven).

Another option is you can make a little icing instead of adding chocolate chips.  Or you can spread on a little cream cheese.  They are also perfectly lovely on their own, I just have a sweet tooth.

Thank you for the wonderful recipe preschool!