Pumpkin Coconut Chocolate Chip Muffins, Gluten Free

More punkin'

These are so delicious.

I got the basic recipe from allrecipes.com, but have altered it significantly to make it gluten free and to fit with the ingredients that I had on hand, so it's really not the same recipe anymore.

First of all, you'll need to roast your pumpkin.  If you don't have any, come see me.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Lightly grease a cookie sheet that has a rim on it.  The pumpkin will seep some juice out and you don't want it running all over your oven.  Cut the pumpkin in half.  Scoop out the seeds and pulp.  Save the seeds to roast later because they're very yummy.   Place the pumpkin, hollow side down, on the cookie sheet and bake/roast it until you can pierce it with a fork very easily.  

Sometimes, the peel will separate from the meat of the pumpkin and you can just pull it right off.  If not,  just use a spoon to scoop it out into a bowl and mash it with a potato masher.  Throw the peel and the pulp to the chickens.

Let the pumpkin cool on the countertop or the refrigerator.

Now for the muffins.

2 cups pumpkin puree

4 eggs, beaten

3/4 cup butter, softened*

3/4 cup canola oil

1/2 cup white sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

3 cups gluten free flour**

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 heaping tsp. xanthan gum

3/4 cup flaked coconut

3/4 cup chocolate chips

* For a healthier option (but, really, is healthy what we're going for with a muffin?), the butter can be replaced with applesauce.

** I usually use Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All-Purpose Flour, but other brands or your own mix will work as well, providing you know what you're doing when you make a baking mix.

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour muffin pans or use paper liners.  I use silicone muffin pans, which don't require greasing.  This recipe made 12 regular sized muffins and 24 mini muffins.

2.  Blend together the pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, butter, and sugar in a large bowl.  Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and xanthan gum in a separate bowl.  Slowly add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture.  Fold in the coconut and chocolate chips.  Scoop the resulting batter into the muffin pans.  For the mini muffins, a large cookie scoop worked well for me.

3.  Bake in preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean and the tops are a light golden color, 20-30 minutes.  Allow to cool completely on a wire rack.