Chocolate pumpkin and apple muffins

As a farewell to pumpkin season… delicious muffins made with pumpkin purée and apple. Like little pieces of brownie :). Moist, soft and filled with juicy chunks of apple. It is impossible to stop at just one. Covered with a chocolate glaze, they stay fresh for longer… Highly recommended!

Which pumpkin do I use for baking? In Poland, a good variety for baking is Hokkaido pumpkin, known in the United Kingdom as Red Kuri squash. It is a squash with a delicate flavour, floury flesh and an intense orange colour. It has a wide range of culinary uses.

Makes 10 muffins.

Ingredients for the chocolate pumpkin and apple muffins:

• ¾ cup plain flour
• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 egg
• 50 ml sunflower or rapeseed oil
• ½ cup caster sugar
• ½ cup pumpkin purée
• 2 tablespoons milk (or more, if necessary)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 small apples, peeled and diced

All ingredients should be at room temperature.

Sift the dry ingredients into the first bowl: plain flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon. Mix together. In a second bowl, combine: the lightly beaten egg, oil, sugar, pumpkin purée, vanilla extract and milk. Combine the contents of both bowls and mix together, for example with a balloon whisk or fork. Add the diced apples and mix. The batter should be thick. If it is a little too thick (which may depend on the consistency of the pumpkin purée), add another tablespoon or two of milk and mix again.

Line a muffin tin with paper cases and fill them slightly above three-quarters full.

Bake at 160ºC for approximately 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove and leave to cool on a wire rack. Drizzle with the thickening chocolate glaze.

Ingredients for the chocolate glaze:

• 25 g dark chocolate, chopped
• 25 g milk chocolate, chopped
• 50 ml double cream
• 1 teaspoon honey or golden syrup

Heat the double cream in a small saucepan until almost boiling, then remove from the heat. Add both chopped chocolates and the honey/golden syrup, then leave for 2 minutes. After this time, stir until a smooth chocolate sauce forms. Pour over the muffins while the glaze is thickening.

Enjoy!