Besides my grocery shopping obsession, I have a couple other little addictions.
One is the internet. Twitter specifically; I just love it! Also now that I’m finally getting an iPhone, (I can’t even talk about it), I’ll probably be bonkers obsessed with Instagram and every app that I’ll more than likely forget what it’s like to function as a real human being. I mean, it’s already tough enough for me to keep up with all of the new blogs I’ve been discovering online lately. My new favorite is A Beautiful Mess, a blog about everything from beauty and fashion, to crafts and photography. You totally need to check it out!
Another favorite is my friend Stephanie’s blog Frest Tart. Her unbelievably gorgeous food photography, recipes, and fun writing style immediately invites you in. Stephanie also photographs Andrew Zimmern’s recipes for Food & Wine Magazine which makes it even more fun to follow what she’s up to! Visit and tell her hello!
Something else that has been taking up a lot of my time lately? Baking! So you’ve probably noticed. Well, let me just inform you now that the sweet recipes will continue to live on this blog. I just can’t stop. I’ve always loved to bake but this is getting out of control. Seriously, did I need to make pumpkin muffins, cookies, AND apple crisp this weekend? Probably not. But you see, some days I find that there is nothing that I would rather do than bake my heart out; my stress seems to diminish while mixing batter and browning butter. Why yes, I am a weird human being, thank you.
Mmmmm now I’m thinking about brown butter. But wait… these muffins don’t actually have any butter OR oil in them! Whatttt?!?! I know, I must explain.
You guys know that I pretty much love everything in bread form; however, I realize that I can’t go around eating muffins from the bakery every morning! So, in an effort to diminish my morning carb cravings, I set out to create a guilt-free muffin that would be perfect for breakfast, an on-the-go snack and great for kids.
To keep the calories low, I used minimal sugar, unsweetened almond milk, egg whites, and applesauce. I also added in 1/2 of a ripe banana to keep the muffins extra moist and to add a bit of sweetness. You can make the recipe without the banana if you don’t have any on hand; they’ll still turn out great!
Imagine biting into a warm, moist and chewy pumpkin muffin with bits of sweetness from chocolate chips. And then all of a sudden your day gets really awesome. Muffin magic.
And there’s another reason why you’ll fall in love with them too…
They’re only 160 calories per muffin! I know it’s shocking, but I’ve included the nutritional information with the recipe below.
Omg… I know what you are thinking, and the answer is yes, we can totally butter these babies up!
AND BUTTER I DID. Hehe. I’m a little bit evil. Maybe in that really sweet kind of way?
Happy baking!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Low-fat Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup old fashioned oats
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk (or milk of choice)
- 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
- 1/3 cup unsweetened all-natural applesauce
- 1 ripe banana, mashed
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips, plus 2 tablespoons
- Extra oatmeal, for sprinkling on muffins
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line 12 muffin cups with paper cups or spray with nonstick spray. If you use muffin cups, make sure to spray the inside of the cups.
- In a large bowl mix flour, oatmeal, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, and salt together.
- In a separate bowl combine pumpkin, mashed banana, brown sugar, almond milk, egg and applesauce.
- Add the flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture and stir to combine. Gently fold in chocolate chips.
- Fill each muffin cup 3/4 full so that each is even. Sprinkle a tiny bit of oatmeal over each top of the muffins.
- Place into the oven and bake for 23-28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center of muffins comes out clean.
- Muffins are best served warm. Reheat in the microwave for 20 seconds and spread with topping of your choice!
These smelled so good in my oven! I used Bob’s Red Mill 1-1 gluten free flour instead of regular flour and it worked. I think regular flour would be a little lighter and fluffier. The gluten free flour does change it a bit (the rice flour in the mix gives it a bit of a gluey texture) but it’s still pretty fluffy and delicious. This might be my new favorite pumpkin muffin recipe!
These are so yummy! I love that there are multiple healthy ingredients like pumpkin, banana, applesauce, and oats, yet still have the texture of a delicious muffin. Will be making these again!
I also wanted to add that these are very kid friendly…my kids devoured them! And it calls for one egg in the recipe and then in the directions it mentions “egg whites”…I just used one egg, yolk and white – turned out great!
Absolutely! And thanks for the catch – updated 🙂 glad you and the kiddos enjoyed!
Just made these. I didn’t have chocolate chips so tt wasn’t on the sweet side but that must have to do with the fact that I didn’t have apple sauce and substituted grated yellow apple. I also think the apple was tart. If you’re looking for a sweet pumpkin muffin, this probably isn’t it or just add more brown sugar/maple syrup.
This is definitely more healthy than most which is what I appreciate. Thanks Monique!
The grated apple likely changed the flavor a bit but I’m glad you enjoyed regardless!
Hey! Can I use stevia to replace the sugar?
Hi! I don’t typically bake with sugar-free sweeteners so I’m not sure how it will affect the taste & texture.
I’ve made these 6 times in the past two years. They”re a hit at work and at home. I like them best warmed up. I can’t believe this big muffin has less than 175 calories.
Thanks for the great recipe1
Delicious! The perfect snack 🙂
Love these! My husband loves them too.
So happy to hear that!
This is the second time in a week I’m baking these for my horde of grandsons who care nothing about “healthy” and everything about TASTE. The recipe was easy and adapted well to substitutions I needed to make based on ingredients on hand and dietary requirements. I didn’t have applesause so I used 1 whole banana, put in 2 whole eggs instead of the egg ( I hate wasting the egg yolks), and reduced the amount of wheat flour to 1/3 and used gluten-free substitutes.
Hi Carol! So glad the grandsons like these, and that you found some substitutions that worked out 🙂
Ok. So mine came out quite dense. Any ideas why? Are they supposed to be dense?
I substitute the brown sugar with black strap molasses and wheat flour for instead of white flour and didn’t add the applesauce , Added my own homemade pumpkin purée almost 2 cups was said to be equivalent to 15 ounce can . came out delicious
Delicious, thanks for the recipe. Though I wouldn’t exactly call them “healthy”.
Absolutely delicious! Perfect for breakfast, lunch, or Dessert!
Thank you.
I baked these last night but subbed in pecans instead of the chocolate chips and an extra half of a banana instead of the other 1/2 cup of pumpkin…they paired so well with my veggie & bacon soup! Thank you for such a great recipe! 🙂
I followed the recipe to the dot and baked for 27 minutes… and even though they poked clean, they seemed doughy to me. Exactly what do you mean when you say “slightly beaten” egg whites? The only thing that occurs to me is that we have different definitions. Thanks!
These look to die for!
I have celiac disease but I’m dying to try these muffins! Would almond flour/meal be an alright substitute or should I just go for a gluten free baking mix?
Great question. Can you do quinoa flour and toast it first?
These are very good! I just made a batch today, and I already know there’ll be many more batches to come 🙂 I ate 3 muffins a little after they came out of the oven! I lack self control LOL. I made a few changes, though. I did half AP flour and half whole wheat flour. I used 2% milk instead of Almond. And I added some white chocolate chips on top, instead of the additional oats. These are really really good, and I’d recommend them to anyone! FYI, For my personal preference, I would have added a tiny bit more sugar in if I would have used Almond milk instead of the 2%, because unsweetened Almond milk has less sugar than 2% and I would want the muffin slightly sweeter. Really great recipe, though, and I will make again for sure!
Made these – delicious! Even used 1/2 whole wheat flour for more fiber. Didn’t have almond milk so just used 1% milk. They keep me full between breakfast and lunch. NICE!
I just made these as a treat for myself (so I don’t eat tonight’s leftover Halloween candy) and they are FABULOUS! (In case anyone is wondering, regular dairy skim milk works fine.) Thanks so much!
Hi!
Just made those yesterday and they are AMAZING. Everyone loved them and when I told them it was only 160 calories…I made their day hahaha.
Got a question though; how long can you keep them before they get mouldy?
Thanks!
A few days if tightly wrapped. Otherwise you can stick them in the fridge or freezer!
I want to make 24 for work, would you recommend just doubling the recipe OR making one batch and then making another?
Hi Laura! I think you could double the recipe and be just fine. 🙂
Made this recipe twice. Love it! Today, I made it again sans the brown sugar and Almond Milk (since I didn't have any on hand, used 2% milk instead). They turned out wonderful without the added sugar. I saved this recipe and will use again. Thanks!
Can you substitute anything for the banana. Family really doesn’t like them cooked
Applesauce!
Made these today. They came easily out of foil muffin cups. I subbed a half cup of the flour with oat flour. My five-year old loved them, and I did too! Thanks! Oh, if anyone cares, these total 5 Weight Watchers points+.
I made it with whole wheat flour but add 1cup instead of half cup chocolate chips. Delicious !!! Kids and adults loved it!
I made these tonight with a few tweaks: 1/2 whole wheat flour, no banana (mine aren’t ripe), one egg rather than two egg whites, and no chocolate chips because I completely forgot them. They came out well but not quite sweet enough/a touch bland. Definitely do not skip the chocolate chips! I think next time I’ll include the banana as well, and maybe even add some berries to brighten up the flavor. Great chewy texture though and a recipe worth repeating — thanks!
I just made these to bring to a Viennese Table pot luck night tomorrow. I made them mini muffin size so there's more of them to go around. And you know women, mini muffins, if they're good, they feel because they're small they can have a few. Ah, tricking the psyche 🙂
I filled the muffin tins full & crushed pecans and mixed with rolled oats to sprinkle on top of the muffins. Then, with 5 minutes left on the oven, I sprinkled with white sugar. It gave them a very big, "bakery-esque" look. 🙂
Is there any way for this recipe to turn out without using any flour (nut flour or otherwise)? I cannot have ANY flour products, and with fall coming on, I’ve been dying for a muffin. Perhaps if I sub in more oats?? I suck at cooking/baking, so any advice would be great!
Yes, maybe try ‘oat flour’?
I just made these today, and WOW! The only thing I changed was I used half whole wheat and half all-purpose for the flour. (So 3/4 C each). I also added 1/2 C of chopped walnuts. Mine yielded 15 muffins. I’m not sure if I made them smaller or what, but it worked beautifully either way! Thank you so much for sharing! I will definitely be keeping this recipe. So delicious! 🙂
Love this recipe. I added white chocolate chips to them…DIVINE!
Just made these, trying to find healthy breakfast items for my husband. They are so good!!!!! Thank you for sharing!!