Is there a difference between a muffin and a cupcake, not always.
Time to give another of my Mom’s fab recipes an update. Her pumpkin muffins are simply the best, very moist and super-delicious. The down side is they contain 1-1/2 cups of oil and 2 cups of sugar! That calls for a modern do-over. The goal is to keep the pumpkin flavour and moist texture while reducing the fat and sugar to more reasonable amounts. It took a few test-runs, but I think I finally nailed it!
As plain pumpkin muffins these are really great, but add in 3/4 of a cup of raisins, walnuts or chocolate chips and they become awesome. Usually I add raisins, but this time in went the dark chocolate mini chips… so good.
So let’s take a look at the do-over results. Wow, taste remains great…. check! Total calories reduced from 300 to 203… check! Total fat reduced from 22% of daily value to 17%… check again!
So what makes a muffin into a cupcake? I think it’s as easy as adding icing. Not just any icing, spooky Black Chocolate Buttercream Icing. That’s bound to get everyone in the Halloween spirit.
Just a warning, this frosting makes your tongue turn black… very ghoulish. It goes away fast, not to worry.
Mom's Pumpkin Muffins & Spooky Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes
EMAIL Recipe Share on FacebookIngredients
- • 2 eggs
- • 3/4 white sugar
- • 1/2 cup canola oil
- • 1 cup pumpkin purée, fresh or canned
- • 1-1/2 cups flour
- • ½ tsp cinnamon
- • 1 tsp baking powder
- • 1 tsp baking soda
- • 1/2 tsp salt
- • 3/4 cups add-ins, raisins or mini chocolate chips chips or walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375ºF. Prepare a 12-cup muffin tin with liners or spray lightly with cooking spray.
- Beat eggs slightly in bowl. Add sugar, oil and pumpkin and beat thoroughly for 1 minute.
- Sift together dry ingredients in another bowl. Add to pumpkin mixture and mix well until smooth.
- Stir in add-ins, I used mini dark chocolate chips.
- Fill prepared muffin cups ⅔ full. Bake 15-20 minutes. Enjoy as muffins or frost with Black Chocolate Buttercream Icing to make cupcakes.
Black Chocolate Buttercream Icing: Mix together ¾ cup softened butter, 2 tsp vanilla extract, 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 3 to 4 cups icing sugar and 1 to 2 tsp black food colouring paste until smooth. Frost cupcakes with a knife or piping bag.
Would you mind posting your mother’s recipe (the original)? I’m curious…I’d like to make both and compare!
Thanks!
Here is the original recipe Monika, just omit soaking the raisins in rum.
https://eatineatout.ca/tipsy-raisin-pumpkin-muffins/
I was very excited about this recipe, but as I looked closer, the comparison of the nutrition facts are not compared in the same serving size. The original 148g and the new 65g. This is little misleading saying you’ve cut the calories down from 513 to 203. If you do the correct calculation for 65 gram portion compared to 148 grams it’s actually over 400 calories. Is this true, or a mistake in the print?
Thanks so much for pointing that out Maureen, I totally forgot that the original recipe was for 24 muffins! I have updated my results so it reflects 12 muffins for both recipes. Not as dramatic, but still a good improvement.
Thanks for updating! Still looking forward to trying the recipe and making it for school party this week!
Thanks Maureen, I will look forward to hearing what you think.
These look delicious! I love the black icing!