pumpkin chocolate chunk oat muffins.

This past week was so odd.

Hurricane Sandy hit. And believe it or not, it barely rained! It was mostly wind damage, by where I lived. I know the Jersey shoreline suffered severe damage, as did parts of New York. The subway system was flooded! All that salt water corrosion!

I won't add to how much you've been hearing about this natural disaster on the news and other social media networks. Instead I will give you my narrative of what I did during these last 7 days.

Sunday night, the last night before the hurricane struck, I was at work. Where I, and a fellow worker, decided we would both cover a shift at the same time on Tuesday (the day directly after the hurricane hit). Despite living on a totally different campus from the place of our work. Despite being subsequently reprimanded (jokingly .. kind of) for our stupidity by the Assistant Manager. It seemed like a fun challenge.

The next night was the night of the hurricane, and we lost power. What to do with ourselves on a Friday night, trapped in our apartment, with no power, and classes cancelled for the upcoming Monday & Tuesday?

Sip Pinot Grigio and play bananagrams. Oh and eat all the Halloween candy that was at our disposal, should circumstances require us to hibernate.

So began hurricane week, and with it, an ongoing trend of laziness and eating. Don't get me wrong, I did make time to volunteer at the shelters at our recreational centers, where there were people from all over the state. Because my particular area hadn't been hit too hard, I wasn't prepared to see so many refugees - or accept the fact that they were, literally, refugees. It was sad, and I'm happy I was able to help even a little.

But in regards to schoolwork, labwork, and my other obligations, I was highly unproductive. At least I found time to bake? I made these awesome muffins, and also apple pie bars, which you'll see next!

The muffins have very minimal fat. The pumpkin and buttermilk serve as substitutes. I just recently purchased white whole wheat flour, and this was the perfect opportunity to see how it performed. It definitely is less heavy than whole wheat, and if it gives the nutrients it claims, I want to say I really like it. I added oat bran because I had it - it added a nice chew to the muffins. The chocolate chunks are beautiful. I wanted to keep the muffins on the healthier side, so I broke up a single Hershey's bar of chocolate into the entire batter. If you want more consistent (and just more) chocolate, I would use the amount included in the recipe.

Hope you like them!!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Oat Muffins
slightly adapted from Tracey.

• 3/4 cup white whole wheat flour 
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour 
• 1/4 cup oat bran (can sub with any other whole grain, or more flour)
• 1 tspn baking soda 
• 1/2 tspn baking powder 
• 1/2 tspn ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tspn salt
• 1/8 tspn cloves 
• 1 cup granulated sugar 
• 1/4 cup brown sugar 
• 1 cup pumpkin puree 
• 1/2 cup buttermilk 
• 3 Tb canola oil 
• 1 large egg 
• 1 cup chocolate chunks 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 12 muffin tins with liners. 
2. Make the dry mixture, by combining the flour - cloves. 
3. Prepare the wet mixture, by mixing the sugars, pumpkin, buttermilk, oil, and egg very well. 
4. Add the dry to the wet. Mix until just incorporated. 
5. Stir in the chocolate chunks. 
6. Distribute batter among muffin tins. Bake about 25 minutes or until clean toothpick in center. Remove muffins from the pan, and cool completely.
7. Eat warm (for ooey gooey chocolate goodness) or cold (I was a fan, although the chocolate will harden). Reheat for melty chocolate.