Combining two amazing flavors in one fluffy, oil-free muffin, these stunning Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Layered Muffins will be sure to please this fall season!
You all know how much I love chocolate and considering I've been sneaking pumpkin into everything since fall arrived, I decided to combine my two current favorite flavors in one beautiful package: pumpkin and chocolate layered muffins! But seriously, aren't these muffins gorgeous?! We've been eating these muffins for breakfast for the past couple weeks and we are still not sick of them. We love frosting them with my homemade peanut butter for a heartier, higher-protein breakfast OR with my drippy, sweet homemade pecan butter for a more decadent tasting treat.
Easy Vegan Pumpkin Muffins
The thing I love most about these muffins is that they only require one bowl and a few minutes to prepare. I start by making a pumpkin muffin batter and then spoon half of the pumpkin batter evenly among 12 muffin cups. This creates a beautiful pumpkin-flavored base to these muffins. To the remaining half of the batter, I simply stir in some cocoa powder to create a chocolate batter which I then spoon onto the top of the pumpkin patter. If you wanted to get extra fancy, you could use two bowls so you could alternate spooning the pumpkin and chocolate batters into the muffin cups for even more layers!
If you want a more savory pumpkin muffin, check out these dairy-free pumpkin cornbread muffins!
Healthier Muffin Options
One way that I've lightened up these muffins is by not using any oil. I find that the pumpkin purée adds plenty of moisture so oil isn't needed. But of course, I also added in some chocolate chips because...balance, right? I've made these without the chocolate chips and, while they are still delicious, they are obviously not as sweet. I personally think the chocolate chips are mandatory, but you do you!
Spices in Pumpkin Muffins
As you'll see in the recipe, I've included quite a few different spices including ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. If you have store-bought or homemade pumpkin pie spice on hand, feel free to use 2 teaspoons of the pumpkin pie spice instead of all the individual spices listed in the recipe.
📖 Recipe
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Layered Muffin Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 flax eggs 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed + 6 tablespoons warm water
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 cup non-dairy milk
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- ⅓ cup cane sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon*
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 ¾ cup whole wheat flour
- ½ cup chocolate chips or chunks divided
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375 °F and grease or line 12 muffin cups.
- In a large mixing bowl, make your flax eggs by whisking together the ground flaxseed and water. Allow it to sit for 5 minutes to thicken.
- To the flax eggs, add in the wet ingredients and spices, from the pumpkin puree to the sea salt. Whisk until smooth.
- Add in the flour and most of the chocolate chips, reserving some for the tops of the muffins, and stir until just combined.
- Using a spoon, divide half of the batter among the 12 muffin cups.
- Stir the cocoa powder into the remaining pumpkin batter and then evenly distribute the chocolate batter on top of the pumpkin batter, filling up each muffin cup to the top.
- Bake for 20 minutes. Allow the muffins to cool for a couple minutes in the pan before removing them to cool completely on a wire rack.
- Once cooled completely, these muffins store wonderfully in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week. Alternatively, you could wrap them individually and freeze them. To reheat a frozen muffin, simply unwrap it and microwave it straight from frozen for a couple minutes until heated through.
Notes
**I haven't tested this yet, but I'm sure Bob's Red Mill's 1-to-1 Gluten Free Baking Flour would work great instead of the whole wheat flour if you needed these muffins to be gluten free.
Breanna says
These muffins are to absolute die for. Even my husband texted me when I packed one in his lunch and said, "that muffin is legit". Needless to say these will be a staple in our home.
Thank you for sharing this recipe from a fellow chocolate lover!
10/10 stars!
Faith VanderMolen says
That's music to my ears Breanna! Thank you so much for letting me know. I'm so happy to hear you guys like them!
Sue says
Well, mine do not have a beautiful crumb like yours, but only because I played with your recipe! That said, they are delicious. (I skipped the sugar and used extra pumpkin). Thanks for these healthy and wonderful muffins.i wish you had a rating system so I could give it 5/5????.
Faith says
I always mess with recipes too Sue, but I'm glad they still turned out well! We are actually in the process of fixing our rating system so there is no where to rate the recipe when you comment, but you can still give them a 5/5 star rating right under the name in the recipe card! Just click on the 5th star...that would be a huge help:) Thanks for sharing Sue! Enjoy the muffins!