Winter may be around the corner, but it’s still not too late to enjoy the flavors of fall.
If you’re bored of pie but still crave pumpkin flavor, try these muffins and biscotti. Both recipes pair pumpkin with a somewhat less traditional fall ingredient: dark chocolate.
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
1 ½ cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ground clove
¼ tsp ground allspice
¼ tsp salt
2 eggs
1 stick (8 tbsp) butter
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and grease or line muffin tin.
In a small bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, clove, allspice and salt, and set aside.
In a large bowl, beat eggs. Stir in pumpkin and melted butter, and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips.
Spoon batter into muffin tin. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Muffins should spring back when touched.
Pumpkin Chocolate Biscotti
Adapted from King Arthur Flour: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/pumpkin-biscotti-recipe
⅔ cup granulated sugar
4 tablespoons butter, softened
2 cups flour
2 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ground clove
¼ tsp allspice
¼ tsp ginger
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 egg
½ cup pumpkin puree
½ cup bittersweet chocolate chips or dark chocolate chunks
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a small bowl, mix flour, cinnamon, clove, allspice, ginger, salt, and baking powder.
In a large bowl, mix butter and sugar until smooth and creamy. Stir in egg and pumpkin puree until smooth.
Add flour mixture to butter mixture, stirring gently until just incorporated. Mix in chocolate chips or chunks.
Divide dough in half. On the parchment-lined baking sheet, shape each half into a roughly 10” x 3” log.
Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for five minutes, before cutting logs into ½ – ¾ inch slices crosswise or on a diagonal. Arrange slices cut-side down on the parchment paper.
Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees, and bake for at least another 15 minutes (I prefer my biscotti somewhat soft.) If you like traditionally crunchy biscotti, bake for up to 40 minutes, and then remove from oven to cool. Store at room temperature.
Liana’s Kitchen is a column by Astoria-based chef and foodie Liana Grey. Check out her food blog Kitchen Chem.