Description

One batter is all it takes to make these marble pumpkin muffins. They're super light, fluffy, and moist with a subtle pumpkin flavor in every bite! The base batter for these muffins comes courtesy of my favorite bakery-style chocolate chip muffins (because it's already perfection) with a few little tweaks to get that authentic pumpkin muffin texture.

Ingredients

2 & 1/2 cups (300g) all-purpose flour, spoon and leveled
1 & 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (optional - you can also use ground cinnamon instead)
1 & 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
1/2 cup (100g) packed brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick / 115g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1/4 cup (60mL) vegetable oil (or any neutral flavored oil)
1 cup (220g) pure pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
3/4 cup (180mL) buttermilk, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup (20g) unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup (60mL) whole milk or additional buttermilk

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Instructions

Preheat your oven to 400°F. Line 11 cups of a standard muffin tin with paper liners and set aside. *(see notes)
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to combine. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, both sugars, butter, oil, pumpkin puree, buttermilk, and vanilla to combine.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix together until just combined. Take care not to overmix or the muffins will end up tough!
In a separate medium bowl, whisk together cocoa and additional milk until the cocoa is dissolved. Add about half of the base pumpkin batter to the bowl, and fold together until combined. Again, take care not to overmix.
Alternate adding in small dollops of chocolate and pumpkin batter into the muffin cups, filling each cup to the very top for extra tall muffins! Use a skewer or knife to lightly swirl the batter to create a marble.
Bake the muffins in your preheated 400°F oven for 10 minutes. Then, without opening the oven door, reduce the temperature to 375°F and continue baking for another 10 to 15 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
Cool muffins for 5 minutes in the tin, then transfer onto a wire rack and set aside to cool completely before serving!

Notes

* I prefer to fill 11 muffin cups to get those extra tall muffin tops, but you can also choose to fill 12 cups for slightly shorter tops. Start checking on the muffins about 2 minutes earlier than the time listed above as the muffins won't need quite as much time if they're divided into 12 cups.

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Bake Time: 20 minutes
Category: Muffins