It's Not Spring Yet. Bring on the Comfort Food!

Last weekend, my roomie and I hosted a little party. I referred to it as the "Do-Over of the Do-Over" (see recent NYEDO post) since several people were unable to attend the January event. And yes, once again, we had a countdown at 11:59pm despite the fact that we didn't even ring in a new month. (I know, I know...it was only February 19th but there were scheduling conflicts to deal with! Leave me alone.)

Anyway, I think I can speak for everyone when I say a good time was had by all. Great friends and comfort food on a cold winter night? That's a pretty perfect night in my book. But unlike the January soiree, we didn't make as much food this time around. However, due to a recent conversation with a friend about the goodness that is pumpkin plus chocolate, I decided to make some muffins to accompany our mulled wine and spiced rum concoctions. They turned out to be quite a hit so I thought I'd share the recipe. It comes from my very loved cookbook (evidenced by its torn, beat up condition), Chocolate for Breakfast and Tea. It's a collection of recipes from B&B Innkeepers throughout the country. The end results often come out looking quite fancy even though for the most part, the recipes are pretty simple. And if you're as choco-addicted as I am, you stare at every lovely photo, trying to decide what to whip up next until little pools of drool form in the corners of your mouth. Mmmmm....

Okay, wait, back on track! Recipe!

But before I share it, I feel the need to confess. I know I try to share healthy food ideas only and um, this isn't really one of them. However, I did make a couple of small changes to the original and the muffins still turned out quite delicious. Ask any of the ten people sitting around our dining room table a few nights ago, mowing down...

Spicy Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins
(from the owners of the North Garden Inn in Bellingham, Washington)

1/2 cup butter, softened
*1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup solid pack canned pumpkin
*1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
*1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1 cup regular or miniature semisweet chocolate chips
*1/2 cup chopped nuts

*1/2 cup raw sugar (Yes, half! And quite honestly, I could have reduced it more. The chocolate sweetens things up enough. And I rarely ever use white refined sugar anymore. Raw brown sugar seems to work just fine as a substitute in most recipes.)
*Whole wheat flour
*Didn't have any salt. Oh, well.
*Forgot the nuts. Double oh, well.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease or line 6 giant or 12 standard muffin cups.

In large bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Then mix in pumpkin.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, and cloves. Mix into creamed mixture. By hand, stir in chocolate chips and nuts.

Fill muffin tins three-quarters full. Bake for about 30 minutes (longer for giant ones) or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Num, num, num!