Adapted from Parade and Sanura Weathers
Sanura Weathers is the author of a healthy food blog at MyLifeRunsOnFood.com.
Inspired by the flavors of warm spiced tea and bitter coffee you find in a “dirty chai” drink, this is a muffin to nibble on while sipping your tea from a Thermos as kids trick and treat in the neighborhood. As an added treat, the muffins are sweetly topped with a generous drizzle of bittersweet chocolate ganache. Here’s a warning: Be careful of kids performing magic tricks, causing these muffins to disappear into the ghostly night!
Active time: 15 min
Total time: 1 hr
Serves 10-12
Ingredients
For the muffins:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup wheat flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp ground cardamom
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1 cup chopped pecans (or your favorite nut), plus more for garnish
- 1 Tbsp chia seeds, optional
- 1 Tbsp flax seeds, optional
- 1/3 cup olive or coconut oil
- 1 cup coconut sugar, or 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/4 cup buttermilk, well shaken
- 2 Tbsp instant coffee*
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
*Note: If sharing with kids, use decaffeinated instant coffee.
For the ganache:
- 1/4 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
- 1/8 cup organic heavy cream, plus more as needed
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- Pinch sea salt
Method
For the muffins:
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease individual tins in a 12-tin muffin pan.
- Whisk flours, baking powder, baking soda, spices, salt, almonds and optional seeds in a large bowl. Form the dry ingredients into a well, to expose the bottom of the bowl.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, sugar, pumpkin puree, buttermilk, instant coffee, eggs, and vanilla.
- Mix in the liquid into the dry ingredients. Mix until just thoroughly incorporated. Don’t overmix.
- Spoon batter into each individual muffin tin until two-thirds full. Top with remaining nuts.
- Bake until a wooden pick comes out clean, or for about 20 minutes. Cool slightly on a rack for 10 minutes. Remove muffins from the tins on the rack.
- Drizzle chocolate ganache over the muffins when they’re completely cool. Enjoy.
For the ganache:
- After the muffins cool: Fill a medium saucepan a third full of water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer. Place a heat-proof bowl over the pot, making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the boiling water.
- Place chocolate in the bowl, and whisk until almost smooth. Whisk in the cream. Add a little more cream until the chocolate is thin enough to drizzle over the muffins. Mix in the second teaspoon of vanilla and a pinch of sea salt.
- Drizzle the chocolate ganache over the muffins and enjoy.
