Easy Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins with Streusel Topping

My easy chocolate pumpkin muffins are a deliciously simple bake. The pumpkin puree keeps the muffins light and moist, whilst the streusel topping adds texture and crunch. Enjoy them warm, straight from the oven, any time of the day with your favourite hot drink.

These best chocolate pumpkin muffins are my latest pumpkin inspired bake. I love baking with pumpkin, from cake to pies, scones to muffins and lets not forget all those savoury recipes too! Pumpkin is great to cook with adding texture and sweetness to any dish.

Sweet pumpkin marries very well with spices and as such, adds a lovely moistness to cakes and bakes. I have paired sweet pumpkin with bitter chocolate in my latest pumpkin inspired bake.

These chocolate pumpkin streusel muffins are a delicious treat, served with a cup of tea or coffee on a crisp Autumn morning. They are at their very best when served warm from the oven.

Why you will love this recipe

• The perfect balance of flavours, as the sweet pumpkin works well with the bitter chocolate and coffee, and warming spices.
• This is an easy recipe to follow and results in deliciously moist chocolate pumpkin muffins.
• These muffins store well, this recipe makes 12 large muffins, so you can store some on the counter top to enjoy now and freeze the rest for later.

Recipe ingredients

Muffin ingredients

• Coffee - I add coffee to the muffin batter my combining 1 heaped teaspoon of espresso coffee powder with 175ml boiling water. You can use regular or decaff coffee.
• Flour - this muffin recipe uses a combination of both plain white flour and wholewheat flour.
• Cocoa powder - is added for depth of chocolate flavour.
• Raising agents - I use both bicarbonate of soda and baking powder in this muffin recipe.
• Salt - a touch of salt balances out the sweet flavours in the muffins.
• Spices - I use a combination of ground ground cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon and mixed spice. If there is a spice you don't like you can leave it out.
• Pumpkin puree - for ease you can use canned pumpkin puree, or make your own (instructions can be found later in this post).
• Vegetable oil - use any variety of light flavored oil.
• Sugar - I like to use a combination of caster sugar along with light brown sugar which adds a depth of flavour.
• Eggs - use 2 large eggs in this muffin batter.
• Vanilla - for the best flavour I use vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste.

Streusel topping ingredients

• Sugar - I use light brown sugar in the topping mixture.
• Flour - plain flour (all purpose) is used for the topping.
• Seasoning - I season the topping with a pinch of sea salt and some ground cinnamon for extra flavour.
• Butter - I use unsalted butter (it needs to be cold so you can rub it in). If using salted butter cut back a little on the salt. For a dairy free streusel topping swap regular butter for a dairy free alternative.

How to make chocolate muffins with pumpkin puree

Place the sunflower oil and the pumpkin puree into a large bowl and whisk together to combine.

Add the sugars to the pumpkin and give a good mix, before adding the eggs and whisking each in well. Finally mixing through the cold coffee and the vanilla extract.

Now add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and gently fold through.

TOP TIP: Do not overwork the muffin batter.

Pour the batter equally between each of the 12 muffin cases.

Now for the streusel topping, mix together the dry ingredients and add the butter.

Gently rub the butter through the flour mix with your fingers until you achieve the consistency of fine breadcrumbs.

Sprinkle a little of the streusel topping over each of the uncooked muffins and place in the oven to bake.

Once baked, and when a toothpick inserted into the centre of the muffins comes out clean, place the muffins on a wire rack to cool.

Flavour variations and substitutions

• Flour - this muffin recipe uses a combination of both plain white flour and wholewheat flour. The wholewheat flour adds a nice texture to the muffin. However, if you would prefer you call use all white plain flour in this recipe instead.
• Chocolate - I have used cocoa powder to give flavour to our chocolate and pumpkin muffins, as the cocoa adds a bitterness to balance the sweetness of the pumpkin puree. However, if you would prefer you can add chocolate chips instead to make pumpkin and chocolate chip muffins. For this size batch somewhere around the 250-300 grams of chocolate chips should be sufficient.
• Streusel Topping - I have used a streusel topping for our chocolate and pumpkin muffins as the muffins themselves are soft and richly flavoured, the streusel adding a crunch element. However, if you would prefer, you can easily substitute with a swirl of vanilla or chocolate butter icing instead.
• Alternative Toppings - if making pumpkin and chocolate chip muffins, sprinkle a few extra chocolate chips on top which will melt into the muffin. Or you can add some pumpkin seeds to the topping if you so choose.

How to make pumpkin puree?

Canned pumpkin puree is not something I not something I can find easily in my local stores, instead I have to order online which can be quite costly. However, it is really straightforward to make your own pumpkin puree.

When the pumpkins start hitting the shops I buy a decent sized pumpkin for pureeing. Here's what you need to do:

• Cut a pumpkin in half, remove the seeds and then cut it into wedges.
• Place each wedge skin side down on a baking sheet and pop in a pre-heated oven at 200C/180CFan for 30-40 minutes until softened. Allow to cool a little before handling.
• Next use a spoon to remove the flesh from the pumpkin skin and place into a blender or food processor. Blitz the pumpkin flesh to a smooth puree. If you don't have a blender or food processor, use a stick blender or simply pass the pumpkin through a sieve using the back of a spoon. Next measure out 200g of pumpkin puree for making the muffins.
• Now place the remaining pumpkin puree into measured bags in the freezer, ready to use another day. I like to bag pumpkin puree by weight in a variety of different weights: 200g, 150g, 100g and 50g bags for other cooks. This keeps me going through the winter months.

Recipe hints & tips

• Equipment: I have used an electric stand mixer, but you can also use an electric hand mixer, or a wooden spoon and a bit of elbow grease to beat the ingredients together.
• Don't over mix the muffin batter, just mix to bring the smooth batter together and no more. Over mixing the batter can lead to the muffins being tough, dense and deflated.
• When making the streusel topping ensure the butter is fridge cold so that you can rub it easily into the flour to achieve a breadcrumb like consistency, otherwise it becomes a greasy mess.
• Double the recipe, bake one batch of muffins to enjoy now and freeze the second batch for a sweet treat another day.
• The muffins themselves are dairy free, but the streusel topping contains butter which can be easily swapped for a dairy free alternative.
• Allergy advice: soya free and nut free. For comprehensive and detailed allergy advice go to Allergy UK.

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Additional recipe suggestions

If you enjoyed this recipe then try some of my Autumn inspired bakes, full of seasonal fruits and spices.

• Easy Pumpkin Pancakes
• Pumpkin Cake
• Pumpkin Spiced Scones
• Carrot & Courgette Breakfast Muffins
• Flourless Chocolate Orange Cake
• Flourless Chocolate Cake with Amaretto
• Spiced Apple Cake
• Apple & Cinnamon Scones
• Plum & Almond Galette
• Sticky Gingerbread Bundt Cake

For all my favourite cake recipes have a look at this Best Cake Recipes post, where you will find some great recipes along with some useful hints and tips.

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