Pumpkin Cinnamon Chip Muffins

In honor of fall, I HAVE to share this recipe. :) It is deeee-licious. The kids and I just devoured a few.



Pumpkin Cinnamon Chip Muffins
Printable version here

2 cups white sugar (you can substitute a little brown sugar for the white, if you'd like)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup applesauce
3 large eggs
1 can (15 oz.) solid pack pumpkin
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ground nutmeg, freshly ground if possible
* I use 1 tbsp. Pampered Chef Cinnamon Plus in place of the above three spices
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup Hershey's cinnamon chips (you could use chocolate chips instead, or omit these)
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350º. Grease muffin tins (with nonstick spray or Crisco), or grease & flour loaf pans. Mix sugar, oil and applesauce in large bowl to blend. Stir in eggs and pumpkin. Sift flour, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, salt, and baking powder in another large bowl. Gradually mix flour mixture in with pumpkin mixture. Mix in cinnamon chips, and walnuts if desired.

Bake as directed; cool briefly before transferring to rack. Eat muffins warm, or cool bread completely before slicing. Cooled loaves can be wrapped in foil and frozen for up to 1 month. Enjoy!

**Baking options:

• 2 loaves (9x5x3 loaf pans), baked for 1 hour 10 minutes (or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean), or
  
• 48 mini muffins (PC small scoop, rounded, bake for 15 minutes) and 12 regular muffins (PC large scoop, rounded, bake for 22 minutes)
• About 2 1/2 dozen regular muffins, cups about 3/4 full, bake for about 22 minutes
  
• What I normally make is one loaf and 12 muffins
  

Why I love it?
They're easy to make, comforting on a fall day, and just YUMMY! You can freeze one of the loaves for later if you'd like, too.


(The last batch of mini muffins was still baking when I took this picture)