One thing that’s been especially hard during my recent health struggles is that I’ve had some negative feelings resurface surrounding food and restriction. Those of you who’ve been reading for years may know that one of the reasons I started blogging back in 2008 was to share my journey to health. I spoke a lot about my journey to recovery from disordered eating, something I had struggled with for over a decade.
When I taught myself how to cook and fell in love with making plant-based recipes, I started to make positive associations with food again. And slowly, as I learned to eat intuitively (and embraced therapy!), I built a solid, positive foundation channeling that energy into something that made me feel really good. I don’t know where I’d be now if I didn’t have your support and community along the way. Knowing that my readers were eager to try out the recipes I was sharing kept me immensely motivated to keep going! It still does to this day.
The various symptoms I’ve been dealing with this past year (as well as committing to the dreaded allergy elimination diet) have challenged my relationship with food a great deal. If you’ve dealt with food allergies or sensitivities, you know how much it can drive you crazy in frustration as you try to figure out what’s going on. Every single food becomes suspect. I had incorrectly thought that it was a single food causing my troubles, when in fact it was much more complex than I had realized, with many hormonal imbalances and other systems at play.
Over the past year I found myself starting to question everything I was putting into my body, to the point where for a while I was only consuming a handful of specific foods. I didn’t know what I could eat because everything seemed to be causing reactions. It really messed with my head for a while there! This isn’t my first test by any means, and I know that these challenges and setbacks are a normal part of the journey—there’s no shame in struggling with things you may have thought you’d beaten. I can already tell that this experience has had many silver linings, one of them being a deeper appreciation for my health. And as I’ve seen my health improve over the past couple months, I’ve been so relieved to be getting back to a friendly place with food again by celebrating what it can do for me rather than fearing it!
And what better way to celebrate food this time of year than with the irresistible combo of chocolate and pumpkin? These rich and chocolaty gluten-free and vegan muffins have been enjoyed by everyone lucky enough to get their hands on a trial batch…minus a couple chocolate-hating toddlers roaming around our kitchen. *shrugs* Needless to say, Eric and I have had our fair share throughout the testing process…no complaints over here. Pair the muffins with my popular Pumpkin Spice Latte and you’ll have yourself a delicious and festive autumn snack!
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One Bowl Pumpkin Chocolate Muffins
Yield
12 muffins
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
These moist, dense, gooey pumpkin chocolate muffins are similar to that feeling you get walking through a pumpkin patch, sipping dark hot chocolate, and crunching colourful autumn leaves beneath your feet! Picture a delicious pumpkin chocolate cake or brownie—but in muffin form. What could be better? How about that they take just one bowl to make! This recipe is adapted from Beaming Baker and my Pumpkin Gingerbread Muffins.
Ingredients
For the chia egg:
- 2 teaspoons (4 g) ground chia seed*
- 3 tablespoons (45 mL) water
For the wet ingredients:
- 1 cup (250 mL) unsweetened pumpkin purée
- 1/4 cup (60 mL) grapeseed oil or melted coconut oil
- 1/2 cup (80 g) coconut sugar
- 1/2 cup (125 mL) pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon (5 mL) pure vanilla extract
For the dry ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups (150 g) gluten-free rolled oats, blended into a fine flour**
- 1/2 cup (40 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice***
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2/3 cup (120 g) non-dairy chocolate chips or chopped chocolate, divided**** (optional)
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and line a muffin tin with 12 paper liners.
- Add the rolled oats to a high-speed blender and blend on high until a fine flour forms. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the ground chia seed and water until combined. Set aside for a few minutes to thicken.
- To the same bowl, add the rest of the wet ingredients (pumpkin, oil, sugar, maple syrup, and vanilla) and stir until smooth.
- Add the dry ingredients (oat flour, cocoa powder, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt) to the bowl with the wet ingredients. Whisk until smooth (I love using my big whisk for this task!).
- Set aside 1/4 cup (45 g) of chocolate chips (if using) for the topping and stir the remaining chips into the batter.
- Spoon the batter into the paper liners, filling each two-thirds full. Press the remaining chocolate chips into the tops of each muffin.
- Bake the muffins for 20 to 25 minutes (I bake for 22), until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
- Place the muffin tin on a cooling rack for 10 minutes. Carefully remove each muffin and place it directly onto the cooling rack until fully cooled. Leftover muffins can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for several days or frozen for up to 1 month.
Tip:
* If desired, you can use 1 tablespoon ground flax in place of the ground chia seed. Proceed with mixing in the 3 tablespoons (45 mL) water as directed.
** You can use 150 grams oat flour rather than grinding your own (this is equal to 1 cup and 7 tablespoons oat flour measured using the scoop-and-shake-until-level method). Alternatively, 1 1/2 cups (233 g) whole-grain spelt flour will also work as a swap for the oat flour. If using whole-grain spelt flour, you will likely need to bake the muffins for a couple extra minutes (until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean). Please keep in mind that spelt flour is not gluten-free.
*** If you're a big pumpkin spice fan, you can use up to 1 tablespoon of spice mix in this recipe.
**** Try chopped walnuts or pecans for a crunchy, healthy twist!
You can make these muffins into a loaf instead. Simply pour the batter into a 9x5-inch loaf pan and bake for 45 to 50 minutes (I bake for 46) at 350°F (180°C) until a toothpick comes out clean.
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)
Would 1 egg be right amount to sub for the chia egg?
Hey Marilia, I haven’t tested it myself so I can’t say for sure, but I can’t see why not!
Hi Angela,
I tried it with 2 eggs and it turned out great.
Thanks for sharing Ana!
Oh, I can so relate to what you said about celebrating food for what it does for you rather than fearing it! In college, a long period of stress culminated in a nasty case of gastritis, which was compounded by a stomach bug that knocked out my dairy tolerance…before and after being diagnosed and given meds to treat the gastritis, I spent an awful lot of time feeling nauseous and had a narrow list of foods that felt safe — mostly bland and uninteresting ones, unfortunately. Even after my gut healed, it took so long to work myself out of the safe-food/un-safe food box I’d put myself in during recovery. I had a minor bout of stress-related gut irritation again this spring and it was scary how fast those feelings came back after a decade of enjoying food in a celebratory way. I’m glad to hear you’re finally starting to feel like your attitude toward food is starting to return to normal finally. :)
Thank you so much for sharing Lilian! It means so much to me to know that others have struggled with the same things before. It can be such an isolating experience! I really appreciate your support. And yes….it’s such a good feeling to get back to that celebratory feeling with food. I’m getting back to it week by week and I’m even more grateful for it now.
Dear Angela,
In my experience, pregnancy aggravated my mild food allergies. I do believe, as you wrote, hormones have a lot to do with it. Histamine itself is a hormone, necessary for digestion and many other functions. There are plenty of blogs about histamine intolerance and I recommend reading a little bit about this subject. Even if it’s not the specific issue that you are experiencing you will find tons of food lists that have all kinds of micronutrients that help your body process and lower its natural histamines, which are probably spiking if you’re having allergic reactions.
For me a light salad of Arugula, Apple, parsley or cilantro, cucumbers and onions (if you’re in the mood) can be healing and soothing when I’ve had a bad reaction. These foods (and lots more) all have great therapeutic qualities. Maybe some of them will even inspire some new recipes.
I wish you the best of health!
Thanks so much Charlie! Isn’t it amazing how interconnected the hormones are in the body? I find it so interesting to read about!
I love the sounds of that salad too.
These are decidedly delicious! I wasn’t sure how the chocolate and pumpkin spice would work, but it’s a lovely combination. I brought a double batch into work and they went very quickly (and received rave reviews)!
Whohoo, awesome news! Lucky coworkers ;) So glad you all loved them.
Chocolate with pumpkin what a delicious combination!
Looks yummy. Could I adapt this recipe to make a cake?
Hey Sara, It would be a dense, brownie-like texture, but if you don’t mind that then I think it should work okay. I made it into a loaf and it worked well! The only thing I don’t know is bake time….my guess is 30 to 40 minutes depending on how thick the layer(s) are. Keep checking every 5 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
It seems like they are very tasty. I will defiantly make this for my daughter.
What a great post! I also struggle with disordered eating and it is a constant battle but I am getting better as I move towards a more normal way of eating. Good luck to you on your journey. This recipe looks amazing and something to try on the kids for sure!
Thank you Amy, I appreciate it so much. I’m wishing you well on your journey too!
Have you heard of Medical Medium? I think you could really benefit from his information. He has healed hundredths of thousands of people through simple things like celery juice every morning.
I’m reading it right now actually, thanks to my awesome blog readers for recommending it! Thank you Marina :)
This recipe is delicious! The taste/texture are exactly how you describe them. I made it the way the recipe is written, did a loaf, and the whole family loved it. I’m thinking of making it into a chocolate cake for my daughters birthday (without the pumpkin pie spice) I was going to double the recipe and do two layers. Any thoughts on baking time?
Hey Leila, I’m so glad the loaf size worked for you! That’s a fun idea about making it into a double-layered cake. I haven’t tried doubling it before so I’m not positive it would work (sometimes baked goods are funny when doubling)…I would probably suggest doing a trial run first in case it doesn’t work. As for bake time, I would guess they’d take anywhere from 30 to 40 minutes depending on how thick they are, but I’d check the layers every 5 minutes or so until a toothpick comes out clean. I’d love to hear how it goes if you try anything out!
Hi Angela – I just had to comment on these muffins, they are heaven! Seriously, so good! I was wary about the chocolate/pumpkin combination, but it is so indulgent and delicious. Love how moist these muffins are and not too dense, but oh so satisfying! I’m already on the second batch while pumpkin is in season! Super huge thumbs up on these!
Aww thank you so much, Sandra!! I’m so happy to hear how much you adore these. We sure ate a boat load of them while I was testing! haha. Happy pumpkin season. ;)
“There’s no shame in struggling with things you thought you’d beaten”: AMEN!! Needed to hear that today!
Thanks Ashley! so glad that it helped you :)
It’s a rainy Nor’easter Saturday and I wanted to make some fall comfort goodies without having to go out to the store. I made these with a LOT of substitutes because I was missing ingredients: 1 tsp lemon juice instead of baking soda, 1 tsp of dark rum instead of vanilla extract, I only had enough oats for 1 cup so I added 1/2 cup of spelt flour, I used brown sugar instead of coconut and I only had a chia/flax mix so I used that, 2 tsp and eyed the appropriate water. I whipped it all up, threw it in the oven hoping for a little miracle and I got one! They are AWESOME! I can’t wait to make them the real way!!!
WOW, I had my fingers crossed reading your review hoping they worked out! haha. So glad to hear that they did. :) We’re getting that rainy weather too and I’ve been all about the cozy recipes.
So…I went to make this and I am SUCH a mess today! Dropped baking soda all over the dog, forgot I had broken my muffin tin, didn’t have maple syrup, went to sub maple with mashed banana because that’s all I had and dropped said peeled banana on the floor… Am I the only one who has those days? Haha. Regardless, I persevered and made this into “bars” in an 8″ x 8″ pan and it was fantastic! :D Awesome recipe!
haha I sure have those days!!! A couple weeks ago I dropped a huge 1 litre bottle of maple syrup on my counter…it smashed into a million pieces and I have sticky maple syrup and glass all over my kitchen. :( I’m so glad the bars worked in an 8×8 pan…great idea!
This is one of the best recipes I have made and I have made many. I even fooled my daughter and didn’t tell them they were pumpkin and she loved them. She is very difficult to please as she is a very picky eater. I was surprised as to how moist they were. I couldn’t stop eating them. Thank you for such a wonderful recipe. I will be making these over and over. Have you tried the muffins with banana or blueberries?
Thanks again.
Hi Ana, Wonderful news…thanks for letting me know! I can never seem to stop eating them too. ;) I haven’t tried with mashed banana or blueberries but I definitely want to! It seems like it could be a nice base. I was thinking chocolate with mashed pear might be nice this time of year too.
Can you use regular organic wheat flour?
Hi Victoria, we did a version using the same amount of whole-grain spelt flour and it didn’t turn out, so I’m not sure aout swapping the flour. It would likely need experimentation…my guess is that you’d need to use less flour called for since wheat flour is so drying.
I love chocolate, and I love pumpkin, but I wasn’t sure how I would feel about the combination. Now I’m left wondering how I haven’t tried it before! These are so delicious! I just had one as a mid morning snack with a chocolate chili chai tea and it was perfect. Thanks for another yummy recipe Angela! xx
I was wondering the same about the chocolate-pumpkin combo…so happy you love these too :) Now I’m thinking I need a chocolate version of my fave pumpkin spice latte!
dear angela,
sending lots of positive thoughts and love your way as you do your elimination dieting. i similarly struggled with eating issues for about 20 years (and let’s be honest, it still can pop up to this day when i’m stressed) and it was through plant based eating and cooking lots of my own food and not limiting unhealthy foods (and of course therapy like you mentioned) that i rediscovered a love of food and my body. similarly, i had a huge setback a few years ago when I couldn’t run or exercise at all for 6 months due to an injury. i often couldn’t even detect hunger signals which left me an emotional mess. i love love love your blog and have both of your cookbooks (just made the carrot spice muffins yesterday!). your positive words and vulnerability are an inspiration and your recipes are my favorites. sending lots of love
Erin
Hey Erin, oh thank you so much for your kind words…I can totally relate to so much of your journey and it means a lot that you shared it with me. Sending you lots of positive + healing vibes. Thank you so much for your support for what I do! It’s so rewarding to hear this! Hugs
can’t wait to make these muffins-they look fantastic! (:
These are killer. FWIW, I’m obsessing on protein so added 1/4 c hemp protein and 2 T water—still turned out great, and kicked the protein to 5 g/muffin. Thanks so much for the recipe!
Thanks for sharing Rhonda! :)