Dark Chocolate Chip "healthy" Pumpkin Muffins

It's officially my favorite season: Autumn! I love that I can use my fall scented candles, that the weather starts to cool off, and also.. baking with pumpkin :) I recently made a slightly healthier version of a favorite fall pastry: pumpkin muffins. Key ingredients include dark chocolate chips, canned pumpkin, oatmeal, and whole wheat flour.

These tasty muffins were very popular among my friends and family. They aren't overly sweet, but still have enough sweetness to be eaten as a dessert. 

You can also choose to leave out the chocolate chips. Here are the ingredients, directions, nutrition information and my nutrition evaluation:

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 cups oats
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie seasoning
• 1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin
• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• one large egg
• one large egg white
• 1/4 cup lowfat milk
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

Directions // Yield: 14

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line muffin tins with muffin cups, or spray with baking spray
• Whisk dry ingredients and spices together in a large bowl
• Add pumpkin, oil, milk, and egg and egg white to a medium sized mixing bowl and mix thoroughly. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips.
• Fill muffin tins evenly and bake 18 to 22 minutes.

Nutrition

Calories: 202 

Carbohydrate: 33 g

Protein: 4.2 g

Fat: 6.7 g 

Fiber: 3.8 g

These muffins contain a good source of fiber, some protein and are relatively low in fat. When I eat breakfast in the morning or am looking for a snack that will fill me up for longer than 15 minutes, I try to pick a breakfast/snack with at least 4 grams of fiber. 

Also, compare the nutrition of this recipe to that of Panera Bread's pumpkin muffin, which contains 590 calories, 22 grams of fat, 91 grams of carbs, 2 grams of fiber and 7 grams of protein. The pumpkin muffins in my recipe, which also contain chocolate (which tends to provide more fat) are still less than half of the calories than Panera Bread's muffins that have no chocolate. Also, these chocolate chip pumpkin muffins provide double the fiber. 

Yes, the muffins in this recipe are smaller, but even if you compare this recipe to a pumpkin muffie (a muffin top) it still comes out ahead. 1 pumpkin muffie at Panera contains 290 calories, 11 grams of fat, 1 gram of fiber and 3 grams of protein. 

Just proving a point that baking healthy at home can still be delicious and fun, and you can actually know and be aware of what you are putting into your body.