So I have this friend Tara. Sweet, quiet, soft-spoken Tara who home schools her kids and is the person in charge of the children’s programs at our church. You know the type. Turns out she has a dark side. She and her husband sometimes watch Arrested Development and 30 Rock into the wee hours of the morning (under my corrupting influence, of course!) and she makes these fabulous, easy muffins that are only 1 Weight Watchers point. And then adds chocolate chips to them. Which, of course, not only makes them infinitely more delicious but also not 1 Weight Watchers point. See? Evil. Wolf in sheep’s clothing. Ill-U-sionist.
Okay, super-tricky here. Preheat oven to 350. Combine cake mixes and pumpkin. Add in chocolate chips.
Spoon mixture into lined muffin tins. This can make as many as 48 muffins or as few as 36, just depending on how full the tins are filled. These really don’t rise very much, so you can fill the tins pretty full. If aesthetics are a concern, keep in mind that how they look going into the oven is very much what they will look like coming out of the oven. So a cookie scoop works great to keep things on the prettier side.
Even if you have a million, you can store them in the freezer and then pop them into lunch bags or heat one up in the microwave for a few seconds to take the chill off before you head out to work or school in the morning or for a snack in the afternoon. Or you can eat, like, three while watching The Biggest Loser on Tuesday nights. Never happens. Never.
Easy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
Description
Perfect for fall, these muffins are simple and delicious! Plus, hey – chocolate chips!
Ingredients
- 2 spice cake mixes
- 1 30-oz. can pumpkin
- 1 12-oz. bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Combine cake mixes and pumpkin. Add in chocolate chips.
- Spoon mixture into lined muffin tins. This can make as many as 48 muffins or as few as 36, just depending on how full the tins are filled. These really don’t rise very much, so you can fill the tins pretty full. If aesthetics are a concern, keep in mind that how they look going into the oven is very much what they will look like coming out of the oven. So a cookie scoop works great to keep things on the prettier side.
- Bake for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of one of the muffins comes out clean.
Notes
- Great tip: Duncan Hines, although not pictured, is the best for this recipe.
Questions & Reviews
I use this recipe to make delicious Pilgrim Pies: pumpkin version of New England chocolate Whoopie Pies. Drop dough on cookie sheet and slightly flatten, bake 375 for 10 minutes, cool completely, spread cream cheese frosting with some cinnamon mixed in on flat bottom of one cookie, smoosh flat bottom of another cookie together. Huge hit for fall classroom and Halloween parties and a Thanksgiving tradition for my kids. Wrap up individual Pilgrim Pies with saran wrap tied with orange curly ribbon for fall bake sales.
I just made these. With your perfect cream cheese frosting. Oh. My. Goodness. Just buy me a bigger pant size now. Thank you 🙂
You can add a streusal topping to sprinkle over the topping before baking. Basically 1/2 c. sugar, 1/4 c. all purpose flour, 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice, 3 T butter. Just fancies them up a bit.
I added two eggs and 1 cup of water to the mix (an extra 2 minutes?) and they were the perfect “muffin” texture.
Shelly – when you added the 2 eggs and cup of water, were you making the 2 boxes of cake mix and the 30 oz can of pumpkin? I want to half the recipe and make mini-cupcakes to take to my son’s birthday celebration at school. Don’t need that much. I’ve made this recipe before and they are dense (not a favorite with my kids, but I love them!) So if I can add something to it and make it more “muffin” like, maybe the kids will like them. It’s always fun to sneak in healthy pumpkin without the kids even knowing. 🙂
I ventured to my local walmart with my girls in tow, expecting to have a hard time finding pumpkin. Luckily it was there & lots of it right in the middle aisle no less! I got a little scared when at first I didn’t see spice cake mix, but again felt lucky enough to see the Duncan Hines brand you preferred peeking at me off the shelf : ) I grabbed my loot feeling like I’d found a needle in a haystack, excited to whip these up & impress my family for my efforts lol. I Love this site best for all your recipes, crafts, & links! Thank you for your wit & easy instructions, pics included : )
Different problem for me. Plenty of pumpkin around, no spice cake mixes to be found! Used a carrot cake mix instead. Still yummy! Thanks!
These turned out so great! Thank you!
My variation:
– a bit of nutmeg
– toasted walnuts
Mine were a bit sticky on top, so next time, I might add a crumbly oaty topping.
Love this recipe!!! Made it several times last fall, and this year I’m wondering how it would do in a loaf pan? What do you think?
Everyone keeps saying these muffins are so light and fluffy, but mine turned out pretty dense. Did I not mix long enough?
Mine are always dense, kind of like a cookie, you know?
I made these this week and they were a HUGE hit. My store was out of spice mixes so I picked up a gingerbread cake/cookie mix instead. My kids don’t like pumpkin so I told them they were “chocolate chip muffins”. They can’t stop eating them! They guessed the ginger but no one had picked up on the pumpkin yet. I little dab of cream cheese frosting on the top made it a special treat too.
I was searching for pumpkin this week too, so I could try these. Then today I found three packs at Costco! Score!
I make this same recipe. You can actually make it with chocolate cake mix and once they have cooled they are so yummy! (sounds odd, but true 🙂
The only thing different is that I add 1/2c. water to make it easier to mix and a creamier consitancy.
I make a pumpkin bread with butterscotch chips. I bet they would be good in these muffins as well. yum!
PS – It doesn’t it with the main recipe page too. Oh well, I think I might have everything but the pumpkin to try these out. 🙂
FYI. Sorry, these are probably annoying comments, but just thought you might like to know. If you click on this picture from the side bar (as displayed), then add it to the recipe box – it added Turkey Sandwiches, Beef Sandwiches and some other random thing. Funky! I’m sure it’s not your fault, but there might be others out their like me just clicking pictures to make shopping lists! 🙂 Thanks!
While my husband was on his mission he had a member make these as cookies (she just halved the recipe except left the chocolate chips the same :D) and while we were dating he wanted to impress me and make them for me. He got the “recipe” from her and set out to make them. He followed the directions on the box and by the time I got to his place he had a watery gooey mess. I explained to him that he had made pumpkin and chocolate chip spice CAKE, not cookies… So now it’s my job to make the cookies. I think today it shall be these muffins though.
LOVE these muffins – they are my family’s favorite, in fact! Confused, however, as to how these are just one WW point… When I put together the recipe (according to WW) it always give me a 5 or 6 point value. Suggestions? Thanks! 🙂
Apparently, I never posted my comment that I intended to post last Autumn. Oops. Fail.
Anyway, I used this recipe to make my own variation. I’m not a huge chocolate fan (I know, I know), and I LOVE apple…
So I bought a big jar of Knudsen chunky applesauce. And it’s super chunky and rustic and delicious. And used that in place of the pumpkin- left the chocolate chips out completely.
And they were AMAZING. Because there were some larger chunks in the applesauce, some bites of muffin had an actual apple piece and some were smooth. Perfect for Autumn and I can’t wait for it to NOT be 110 degrees here in good ol Texas for me to eat them (foods are very seasonal for me).
I might make one 1/2 batch (one box of cake mix) of the apple and one of the pumpkin and serve them to my employees (aka: my official baking taste-testers. I pay them to work, they can eat a cupcake or a cookie while they do it!) and see which they prefer!
O.k., so I know it is smack (nearly) in the middle of summer here in WA…that said it is all of 60 degrees {travesty!} & I am craving fall foods. These are also a great choice on “sooo busy I am a DANGER in the kitchen” days. I can put away the liability waiver. YUM!
I am a huge fan of your recipes and I come to you for help! I’ve been searching for a pumpkin cheesecake muffin recipe for years. I’ve tried multiple ones, but none of them turn out the way I like. For example, a batch would burn on the bottoms, but not be cooked in the middle or too dense. I tried lowering my temperature, cooking longer, changing racks in the oven. No luck. I use non stick muffin pans. Does that make a difference? I am going to try these muffins and wanted to know if I could add a “cheesecake” layer in the middle and if that would change cooking time or temperature. Do you have a recommendation for a recipe for the cheesecake filling? (Otherwise I’d use one from another recipe). My husband has told me to give up on finding a recipe that works but I am determined! If anyone can help me, you can! Please help! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I needed to make 6 dozen mini muffins for my daughter’s school and this recipe was perfect! I used mini choc chips and baked the mini muffins for 10 minutes and got about 7 dozen out of this one batch. Love these!
I’m wondering too if anyone knows how many Weight Watchers PlusPoints these muffins are? They look delicious, I’m going to make some!
These are so SO good, we ditched our family recipe for pumpkin bread. We also have made this with Hershey Cinnamon Chips rather than chocolate… OBB is the BEST!
Does anyone know how many points these have now that the point system has changed? I am guessing at least 3 but I hope I am wrong…
Weight Watchers magazine had this in it in the summer but it was with a devil's food cake mix and they are the best chocolate muffins in the world…you would not know there was pumpkin in it!
And for all of those without pumpkin in a can – use sweet potatoes. That's what southern women learned a long time ago. Cook in a microwave, it takes less time than cooking a pumpkin and tastes the same.
Rose Family- ignore the directions on the box, the only thing you're using is the dry mix. Just mix the plain, dry mix with the pumpkin- that's it!
Question… do you follow the recipe on the back of the pumpkin spice box and then add the pumpkin to that mixture and the chocolate chips… or do you just dump the box of spice cake with the pumpkin and chocolate chips and you are done? What I am asking is if I need to follow the back of the dunkin Hines box first? Thanks!
I got a recipe from someone at Weight Watchers but she added a cup of water to the mix. These are the best! Moist and delish… Bonus, 2 points on WW.
I live in Brazil and can't get spice cakes or pumpkin pie filling. Count you blessings girls and make and extra batch for me. I am drooling.