Pumpkin & Chocolate Chip Muffins

I acquired one of my favorite cookbooks a few years ago. It's a cookbook that I recommend for everyone. I love it because it's practical. Even if you don't bake a lot, you'll need this book for when you do. It's called Cupcakes! By the Cake Mix Doctor. Get it. Your friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers will thank you. And you don't even have to tell them the big secret. They will be impressed by your culinary skills and creativeness...just take it in.

pumpkin chocolate chip muffins

The really cool part about this book is all of the cupcakes and breakfast cupcakes (aka muffins) start from one main ingredient. Get ready for it...............are you sure you want to know???.........it is.........boxed cake mix!!!

*GASP!*

That's right people, boxed cake mix. All you gotta do is invite over one of your friends, Betty, Duncan, or Phil, and don't listen to a word they say. Forget the back of the box, open up the cookbook, and go from there. What you will get is the convenience of boxed cake mix but with a homemade taste.

Okay...you get the hint, now let's move on to the recipe:

Pumpkin & Chocolate Chip Muffins
Printable Recipe
by Anne Byrn (Cupcakes! From the Cake Mix Doctor)

Makes 12 Muffins

• Vegetable oil spray for misting the pan (I used cupcake liners instead)
• 1 package (17.8 ounces) chocolate chip muffin mix
• 1 cup canned pumpkin (pure pumpkin)
• ½ cup milk
• 1 large egg
• ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 small handful of chocolate chips (hey, it can't hurt!)

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 400° F. (I set my oven at 375° F). Mist the bottom of 12 muffin cups with the vegetable oil spray. Set the pan aside.
2. Place the muffin mix in a large mixing bowl and make a well in the center. Place the pumpkin, milk, egg, and pumpkin pie spice in the well and stir the wet ingredients together with a wooden spoon just until combined, 20 strokes. The batter will still be a little lumpy. Spoon or scoop 1/3 cup batter into each prepared muffin cup, filling it three quarters of the way full. Place the pan in the oven.
3. Bake the muffins until they just spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 20 to 22 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edges of the muffins, lift them up from the bottoms of the cups using the end of the knife, and pick them out of the cups carefully with your fingertips. Place them on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes. The muffins are ready to serve.
4. Store these muffins, in a cake saver or under a glass dome, at room temperature for up to 5 days or freeze them, wrapped in aluminum foil or in a cake saver, for up to 6 months. Thaw the muffins overnight in the refrigerator before serving.