We love to play around with ingredients and textures to create all of our own recipes. There is something about taking multiple ingredients that all work together to create something beautiful and satisfying. Taking our time in the kitchen is a way of life for us. Having a family of 8, we are all scattered throughout the house doing different things as the day progresses. The one place you can always find all of us is around the counter in the kitchen, eating. Most of our kids are interested in what’s for dinner before we are even done eating breakfast. Some days are spent cooking and baking slowly as the day rolls on around us and other days are fast paced as we are pulled in various directions.

Last week, we had all 6 kids excited about pumpkin season, we wanted to give them a pumpkin fix, but it was one of those day where creating a new recipe had no place in our day! Now, we can tell you not all pumpkin chocolate chip recipes are created equally so we wanted to find one that satisfied our craving with the perfect combination of ingredients. With delight, we came across Baker By Nature’s recipe. Immediately, the addition of molasses jumped out at us! Molasses, is way underused in our opinion. It gives baked goods a moist and chewy texture, because it is a liquid but it is thick, syrupy and sugary. To say these least, these pumpkin chocolate chip muffins were perfect. The kids ate them for breakfast and dessert and just like that they were gone!

This recipe was found here: (Baker by Nature)

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 3 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon super fine sugar *Baker by Nature suggests using Stevia, this is the one change we made*
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• (1) 16-ounce can 100% pure pumpkin
• 2 tablespoons unsulphured molasses
• 1/4 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
• 1 and 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400° (F). Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners and set aside. Spray an 8×4 inch loaf pan with non-stick baking spray and set aside. 
2. In a large bowl combine the flour, spices, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; set aside until needed.
3. In a separate large bowl combine the sugar, brown sugar, and oil; whisk well to combine. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add in the vanilla, pumpkin, molasses, and orange juice and beat until combined. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the flour mixture, stirring just until combined. Fold in chocolate chips.
4. Fill the muffin cups up first, filling each mold 3/4 of the way full. Scrape remaining batter into prepared loaf pan.
5. Bake the muffins first, for 18 to 22 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow muffins to cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes before transferring to a serving platter.