Chocolate Pumpkin Swirl Muffins

By Samantha Seneviratne

Total Time: 1 hour
Rating: 4(864)
Notes: Read community notes

These chocolate-and-pumpkin muffins make a perfect breakfast on the go, the two flavors united by a hint of cinnamon. If you’d like to dress them up for a party, start by adding 2 tablespoons of finely chopped chocolate to the chocolate batter before scooping it into the cups and skip the sugar topping. Bake and cool the muffins, then top them with a simple cream cheese frosting: Beat together 8 ounces softened cream cheese, 4 tablespoons room-temperature unsalted butter and ½ cup sifted confectioners’ sugar. Spread the frosting liberally on the muffins and top with chocolate sprinkles.

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Ingredients

Yield:12 muffins

2cups/256 grams all-purpose flour
1tablespoon ground cinnamon
1teaspoon baking powder
¾teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
½teaspoon baking soda
1cup/200 grams granulated sugar, plus more for sprinkling
¾cup/165 grams packed light or dark brown sugar
½cup vegetable oil
1(15-ounce) can pumpkin purée (about 1¾ cups); see Tip
2large eggs
¼cup plain whole-milk yogurt
1½teaspoons pure vanilla extract
½cup/47 grams Dutch-processed cocoa powder, sifted

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

Step 1
Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper cups. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, salt and baking soda. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugars, oil, pumpkin purée, eggs, yogurt and vanilla extract.
Step 2
Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined. Divide the batter in half.
Step 3
Add the cocoa powder to one half of the batter and mix until just combined.
Step 4
Add alternating scoops of each batter to the muffin cups until you’ve used it all up. Using a butter knife, swirl the batters together without combining them fully. Sprinkle the tops generously with granulated sugar.
Step 5
Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 22 to 26 minutes.
Step 6
Let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove the muffins from the pan and let them stand on the rack to cool completely. The muffins will keep for up to 5 days at room temperature, in an airtight container.

Tip

The texture of pumpkin purées vary from brand to brand. Thinner purées will yield more delicate muffins, but they will still be delicious.

Ratings

4 out of 5

864 user ratings

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Private Notes

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Cooking Notes

kristen bartlett1 year ago

These were delicious and a big hit with my family! I did significantly reduce the sugar as follows: half cup brown sugar & quarter cup of granulated.

Valerie A.1 year ago

Made the following adjustments: cut sugars by about 1/3; added a dash of nutmeg, dash of ginger, and dash of cardamom; used 1/2 whole wheat flour. These are great! Still quite sweet but not overly sweet for an indulgent muffin. Despite the whole wheat flour, they are light and fluffy. I added the chocolate first and then swirled with a skewer, which I twirled around while also mixing. I think 10-12 twirl/mixes is just about right to get a good swirl.

Andreabakes1 year ago

To those that write how this recipe wasn’t great - if you change a baking recipe don’t be surprised if it doesn’t work. Baking is a science and there are ratios for a successful bake. Once that’s established you can riff away. Check your oven temps, too.

Jess1 year ago

Mitzi, don't ruin my excuse to eat something with frosting for breakfast...

Felice1 year ago

Agree with other reviewers that the chocolate was hard to swirl due to being too stiff and that the texture of the muffins was somewhat off. I cut down each of the sugars to 1/2 cup each and added a tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice. They only took 22 minutes in my pre-heated oven. These were just okay. If I’m going to expend a lot of calories I want to be blown away, but that was not the case. Will not make these again.

Mary1 year ago

Great recipe though heavy on the sugar. As this is a muffin, I cut it to 1/2 c granulated and 1/2 c brown and it was perfect. Will probably be a staple fall breakfast!

EKSanfilippo1 year ago

Excellent recipe ! Cut the sugars a little as this is going to preschool, but I was able to get 24 mini muffins and 10 regular size ones

Millicent1 year ago

These felt too uniform and cake-y in texture— I’d suggest adding chopped nuts or candied pumpkin. The chocolate chips were a good addition.

Freya1 year ago

Delicious!! I cut out about 1/3 cup of white sugar, but otherwise made according to the directions. Light and springy and very good!

Gabrielle1 year ago

Delicious! Add chocolate chips for texture.

Dawn8 months ago

These are incredibly good. I was short on 'pumpkin" (actually, squash I roasted), so added half a cubed pear....I think this made them even better. The combination of chocolate, 'pumpkin' pear and cinnamon was fabulous. Also, I substituted buttermilk for the yogurt, and this increased lightness. So so good!

Sous Chef1 year ago

I made this without eggs (added applesauce) or dairy (non dairy yogurt). Next time I would add pumpkin spices (nutmeg, cloves, ginger), it lacked the pumpkin flavors I was hoping for.

Susie1 year ago

Forgot to add, will try adding the chocolate batter first because it’s heavier and thicker than the pumpkin. Also, filled the cups very full and the muffins turned out puffy and pretty. But even so, it made 14 muffins instead of 12.

Rachel1 year ago

I made these gluten-free. Way too much cocoa powder made half of the batter too thick and unmanageable. Maybe a little less cocoa and more liquid to make it less stiff?

MM1 year ago

I made these with a one-to-one gluten free flour blend (Bob’s Red Mill): and they were really delicious. Lots of compliments. I’ll make them again for sure.

Christina K2 months ago

Not sure if my muffin tin is just small or if this recipe makes a lot but I had quite a bit of leftover batter that baked up nicely in a small baking tin at 22 minutes. Muffins took longer, closer to 26 than 22. Used Chobani plain Greek yogurt rather than regular full-fat, and did nicely with approx. half a bag of chocolate chips. Also added a dash of nutmeg, though not sure if it came across. Cinnamon was rather one-note.

Sarah2 months ago

Maybe it was the homemade pumpkin puree, but these made about 20 muffins - the good news is that they're delicious, so no problem! Next time I'll add the cocoa to about 1/3 of the batter, stopping when I like the richness of the color, as mine didn't have much swirl. I also reduced the sugar by about 1/4 cup each, and I liked the sweetness

Koko4 months ago

I weighed out my flour on a scale and used the recommended amounts of sugar and it made exactly 12 muffins. It turned out I only had one egg so that’s what I used, and I was able to substitute 50 gm of flour for protein powder and they turned out amazing. I added chopped walnuts to the pumpkin batter and chocolate chips to the chocolate batter.

Ellen4 months ago

I left the cocoa powder out altogether and added chocolate chips instead. They turned out great!

Sarah G.5 months ago

I cut the sugar by about a third because it seemed like a lot, but I honestly think these could've used the extra sugar! With less sugar these would make a great breakfast, but I made them to be a sweet snack, so I think I would prefer them to be a bit sweeter. Even with less sugar though, these are excellent!

MMR6 months ago

Did 1/2 c. For each sugar as suggested in comments 2/3 c. Dark chocolate chips. Baked for 22 min. Was perfect! We like cinnamon otherwise it would have been too much.

Isabelle G.7 months ago

Minor adjustments: lowered white sugar by a 1/4 cup, swapped 1/2 flour for whole wheat, added 1/4 ground flax. Also doubled the recipe so I didn't have to divide anything for the chocolat batter (just put 1 cup of cacao powder in one batch). Also used a skewer instead of a knife to swirl. The texture is beautiful and they are delicious!

Isabelle7 months ago

Slightly lowered the sugar content and made a double batch so I didn't have to divide anything. Turned out great and now I have some to offer a friend!

LH7 months ago

1 batch ended up making 24 mini muffins and 11 regular ones. We’re a little dry considering I have them 22 minutes - I think 18 would have been fine. Make sure to really mix the batter with the cocoa powder so it all gets incorporated.

Julia C.7 months ago

Can this recipe be used to make a pumpkin loaf cake instead of muffins?

WK7 months ago

These were ok, I think the idea was more novel than the finished product. The chocolate batter is more dense than the pumpkin batter which made swirling the two together a challenge. I'd like this better if it had some texture, a streusel ribbon or topping.

EKSanfilippo7 months ago

Made these for the second time, used scant 1/4 cup of buttermilk in the cocoa half which helped blend smoothly. Accidentally mixed the white sugar (halved) with the dry ingredients, everything was fine. Once again got 24 mini muffins and ten full size.

laura7 months ago

Chocolate side was very dense Try seperatjng before adding flour or maybe adding another egg or more yogurt to that side Cut all the way back on the sufar

Marcia Manning7 months ago

1and 3/4 cup sugar and frosting dose not make this a muffin.

Jo Ann7 months ago

Question: I'd like to try mini-muffins. Can anyone recommend a proper baking time and temperature? Thanks!

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