Pumpkin Spice Muffins

This is kind of a picture re-do, although when I went to my original post--one of the first posted to this blog, I realized I had done something I often did in that first year of blogging--I'd tinkered with my go-to recipe to give you both a decadent version of what I usually make and a spare "healthy" version of what I make. I still hope that that is useful to some, but--truly--wouldn't it be nice to have the actual recipe I actually make every time I actually bake pumpkin muffins. Yeah, probably. Some decent pictures wouldn't hurt either.

So, here you go, the recipe I make every time I make pumpkin muffins/bread.

Pumpkin Spice Muffins
Makes 24 muffins
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 20-30 minutes
Cost: $4.40 (or about $.18/muffin)
butter: 1.00, sugar: .25, eggs: .40, flour: .25, whole wheat flour: .25, pumpkin: 1.00, chocolate chips: 1.00, other seasonings: .30(ish--kind of guessing there; sorry)

A few notes:
-You can use cheap pumpkin. Usually this works fine, but if your pumpkin puree is very cheap (or homemade), it will have a higher water content and these will taste a little more sponge-y than usual--still great, but not as perfect. For cheap pumpkin, I like Aldi's brand--it does NOT give me spongy texture.
-For the wheat flour--Sometimes I use up to 1 1/2 C (and scale the white flour back accordingly), so that's your call. If I use too much, these get pretty dense.

1 C (2 sticks) butter, softened significantly
1 3/4 C sugar (or even go for 2 C if you're feeling feisty)
4 eggs
2 1/2 C white flour
1 C whole wheat flour (white whole wheat works best)
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 15 oz can pumpkin
1-2 C chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs. Add the whole wheat flour. Add half the pumpkin. Add 1 1/2 C white flour and all remaining dry ingredients (except chocolate chips if you count that as dry). Add remaining pumpkin. Add remaining cup of white flour. Mix in chocolate chips.

Bake at 325 for 20-30 minutes (mine are usually done at around 26 minutes or so) in muffin tins. Test with a toothpick (or the more barbaric butter knife) to make sure the middles are done.

Allow to cool.

Note: This can be made into two loaves if you wish. You'll cook for 50-60 minutes I believe.

PRINTABLE RECIPE