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Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Muffins (Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Nut-Free)

Yum

October 24, 2019 By Laura Ligos, MBA, RD, CSSD Leave a Comment

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Ha! I know that is a Christmas tune, but I wish it could be a Pumpkin Season tune. I know some of you might be tired with the whole pumpkin scene, but give it one more chance with these wildly easy to make and even easier to eat Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Muffins.

I polled people on Instagram and asked what they wanted to see a pumpkin muffin recipe or a pumpkin bread recipe. The majority voted that they wanted muffins, so I got hard to work at making a delicious recipe that would also be easy to make. Let’s be honest, I’m not a baker. I like to bake but I much prefer to cook if given the option. This took me 4 tries, so hopefully you enjoy the finished product. 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Muffins

National Pumpkin Day

It just so happens that October is not only National Pumpkin Month but it is also National Pumpkin Day this Saturday, October 26th. So what better way to celebrate with a new Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Muffin Recipe to go along with all your pumpkin products from Trader Joe’s and your Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew, am I right?!

You can make these pumpkin muffins as a nice snack for the whole family this week, for a Halloween gathering, or just for you co-workers because you like them. Celebrate National Pumpkin Day for me by making these pumpkin muffins as I’ll be traveling and probably eating a Pumpkin Pie Perfect Bar on the road on my way to FNCE in Philadelphia. 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Muffins

Pumpkin Everything

Why am I obsessed with Pumpkin? Well if you ask my friends it’s because I’m “basic” but if you ask me it’s because I love the flavor of pumpkin and I love how versatile it is. You can use it in a savory dish like my Ramen or in a sweet dish like my pumpkin cheesecake dish. 

Pumpkin has some delicious health properties too since it’s high in vitamin C, beta carotene (coverts to vitamin A in the body), and fiber. It will not only keep your body running like a well oiled machine it will also give you some vitamins and minerals you need to feel your best, winning all around. Now, bake up some of these pumpkin chocolate chunk muffins that also happen to be gluten-free, dairy-free, and nut-free and confuse your friends when you tell them they are actually “healthy” for them. 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Muffins

Pumpkin Seed Butter

Speaking of pumpkin. I wanted to try baking with 88 Acre’s Pumpkin Seed Butter. I usually save it for my rice cake addiction but I wanted to see if you could indeed bake with it. I’ve tried baking with sunflower seed butter and sometimes, thanks to chemistry, it turns baked goods bluish green, yes bizarre. However, I had some luck here and the Pumpkin Seed Butter not only didn’t turn a funky color it made the muffins moist and oh-so-tasty.

I love pumpkin seed butter because it’s not super sweet and it’s packed with protein, yes protein. Did you know that 2 Tablespoons of the pumpkin seed butter has 9 grams of protein?! That’s pretty dang cool. It will fill you up and keep you satisfied, win-win-win. The other cool thing is that these muffins are completely nut-free (as well as gluten-free and dairy-free) so you can bring them anywhere and hopefully feed them to the masses with no worries. 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Muffins

Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Muffins

Alright, now for the star of the show, the pumpkin chocolate chunk muffins that I’ve been teasing for a few weeks now. I brought these to the gym and they didn’t even last a few hours. People loved having them for a quick post workout pick-me-up and no one even knew that they were possibly even healthy for them.

Some people wished for more chocolate chunks, so, who am I to tell you how many chunks of chocolate you put in there?! Go ahead, live a little and don’t measure your chunks o’ chocolate. <3 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Muffins

Pro Tip: You can use peanut butter with this recipe if you can’t find pumpkin seed butter. I prefer Teddie’s Peanut Butter. 

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Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Muffins

Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Muffins

  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Cook Time: 22 minutes
  • Total Time: 27 minutes
  • Yield: 12 1x
  • Category: Breakfast, Dessert, Snack
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Ingredients

  • 1–1/2 cup oat flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • Pinch Salt
  • 1 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1/3 cup pumpkin seed butter with no added sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/3 cup maple syrup
  • 1/2 cup chocolate chunks (more if desired)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F and spray a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking
    spray (or use muffin liners)

  2. In a large bowl, combine oat flour, baking soda, cinnamon & salt.
  3. Add in pumpkin puree, pumpkin seed butter, eggs, & maple syrup until well combined. Fold in chocolate chunks.
  4. Fill each muffin cup ~2/3 of the way and place in oven and bake for 20-22 minutes or until baked through.

Notes

How to make Oat Flour: place old fashioned/rolled oats in a blender or food processor and pulse until ground into a flour

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @@thesassydietitian on Instagram

Let me know if you make these and be sure to tag me @thesassydietitian and if you use @88acres tag them too. I love seeing all your delicious creations because I am always and forever on #teamweeatfood .

xoxo,

Sassy

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Pin Now, Muffin Later

Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Muffins

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@thesassydietitian

We’ve made it over a week together and it feels We’ve made it over a week together and it feels like it’s always been this way.

Motherhood is a wild ride & it’s only getting started. I have never been so tired & simultaneously so fulfilled in my life. That’s not to say it’s not filled with tears, worries and doubts but what fun would it be if it were all sunshine and roses anyway?

Going into this all I have felt so supported by friends going through this with me BUT I felt so unsupported by the general public. It seems like we want to fear and shame moms because misery loves company, right?!

The focus quickly shifts from mom to baby (still shocked that I only have an appointment at 6 weeks even though my body went through the biggest event of its life) and there also seems to be this shift from joy to shame & guilt.

Here’s some of what I heard from people:

😕Sleep when baby sleeps. You’ll never sleep again.
😕Don’t let baby sleep in a car seat, or a bouncer, or anywhere but their crib EVER. 
😕You’ll never have time to shower again, enjoy it now. 
😕Cry it out is cruel and harmful to the baby. 
😕Get baby on a schedule/never put baby on a schedule.

These are all things I heard and that truly led me to believe I was going to lose all sense of who I was and my life as I knew it.

What I wish people had said instead were:

🥰Your heart will grow bigger than you could imagine.
🥰You’ll cry the happiest tears you’ve ever cried.
🥰You’ll feel like a giant hole was filled that you didn’t even know was there.
🥰You won’t feel guilty about cleaning your house, it just won’t matter anymore.
🥰Babies pooping will make you laugh so hard you will feel like a kid again.
🥰You will have time to eat and shower and you don’t have to neglect yourself.

We need to do a better job of building each other up, supporting one another and our decisions while refraining from offering unsolicited advice and opinions. 

So for all you future mamas and new mamas out there, I see you, I’m proud of you and I cannot wait to share our stories with one another and the world.

Let’s stop fear mongering (just like the diet world) and start building one another up.

Xoxo,
Sassy & lil sassy man
🌈Some things truly are worth the wait. It’s b 🌈Some things truly are worth the wait. It’s been a long year of loss, unknowns and worry but it’s all been worth it to get to meet my lil man🥰
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Now time to introduce this sassy human who is already so well loved to the world...
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Introducing 

💙 Connor James Ligos 💙
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After an almost 24 hour labor, Connor joined us over a week past his due date on 2/12/21 at a whopping 9lb2oz & 22.5 inches long with a full head of hair and lungs to scream hello to us with.
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We are so in love already and cannot wait to share him with the world. Thank you for all the love and support from friends and family and to all those that helped us in the hospital. Holy cow labor & delivery teams are truly magical and I cannot imagine doing it without all of their support.
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Now back to snuggling this human of mine and trying not to cry at every last thing he does 🥰 
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Mom, Dad & Bode are all doing well!
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#babyboy #pregnancyafterloss #rainbowbaby #birthdayboy #birthannouncement
I get it, we all eat so we all then want to talk t I get it, we all eat so we all then want to talk to others about what worked for us. That's great!
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What's not great is when we push our nutrition and eating behaviors onto others ESPECIALLY when we are not qualified to do so.
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So often when people meet me for the first time they are worried to eat around me and/or buy groceries around me. My friends can attest I am not judgemental around food and will gladly eat that cake, queso dip or sip on that glass of wine right alongside of you. I am not the food police and do not offer unsolicited nutrition advice unless it's a client who is paying for my help OR on Instagram and other social media platforms where my goal is to educate.
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Why do I share this? 
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Because I see far too many people diving down diet rabbit holes, finding success & then claiming to be nutrition experts purely because something worked for them. 
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I've also seen this alot being pregnant, everyone wants to tell you what worked for them. IF you use that stipulation of "this worked for me" then fine, share away but if you start doleing out advice please pause, take a breath and think about NOT doing it.
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People are OVERWHELMED by diet culture and some so badly want to change but YOUR way is not the only way and it most likely is not what will work for your friend/coworker/cousin/neighbor so please, stop trying to be an expert in something you aren't.
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Got it!?! 
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Ok, carry on.
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xoxo,
Sassy
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#nutrition #nutritiontips #nutritionist #dietitianapproved #rdapproved #rdchat #dietitiansofinstagram #dietitian #dietitiansofig #albanyny #albanynutrition #albanynutrition
Your nutrition does NOT need to be all or nothing. Your nutrition does NOT need to be all or nothing. I'm not saying you have to find perfect balance (does that even exist?) but I am saying that we shouldn't feel like either we have to eat perfectly or that we might as well give up.
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Instead we should look to the grey area in between for our nutrition guidance. 
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What do I mean?
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I mean that we need to realize that we can still eat cookies but we probably should throw some veggies in there. 
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We can have a glass or 2 of wine but we should probably also drink some water. 
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We can take rest days but we should also find ways to move our bodies regularly.
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And the list goes on.
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It's not about all or nothing it's about doing something daily to help your health and nutrition without it feeling like a set of rules or a free for all.
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How do we find that grey area in between?
👉🏻 stop hopping on and off fad diets
👉🏻listen and trust your self, not your coworkers and cousins 
👉🏻focus on the simple things (ie drinking water instead of worrying about supplements)
👉🏻work to remove guilt and shame around food & body
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Where do you currently fall Right now?!
🤪 all
👍🏻in between 
🙅🏻‍♀️ nothing 
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Xoxo,
Sassy
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#dietitian #dietitiansofig #dietitiansofinstagram #nutrition #nutritionist #nutritiontips #thesassydietitian #rdchat #realtalk

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