ChocolateCinnamonDessertsMascarponeOlive OilOrange

Pumpkin & Dark Chocolate Muffins with Orange Mascarpone Frosting

Help combat pumpkin waste this Halloween with City Harvest! This Halloween, over 15 million pumpkins are estimated to be wasted after carving. This equals 95 million meals worth of good food. One of the best ways to reduce pumpkin waste is to get creative in the kitchen with pumpkin surplus. These delicious pumpkin and dark chocolate muffins are bound to go down well at Halloween. This recipe combines sweet pumpkin, cinnamon and luxurious dark chocolate for a truly autumnal feel, made with the ever-versatile Filippo Berio Mild & Light Olive Oil. The zesty mascarpone frosting, we think, perfectly finishes off these treats with the time-old chocolate-orange combination. Enjoy these spooky delights with a hot cup of tea!

Prep Time: 35 mins
Cooking Time: 30 mins
12 people

Ingredients

240g pumpkin flesh
180g self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
130g wholemeal flour
Pinch of salt
Pinch of cinnamon
120g dark chocolate chips
120g soft brown sugar
2 eggs
100ml natural yoghurt
275ml milk
60ml Mild and Light Olive Oil

For the mascarpone frosting

300g mascarpone cheese
120g icing sugar
Grated zest of 1 orange
1 tsp orange juice

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C. Line a 12-hole deep muffin tin with paper cases.
Peel the pumpkin, discard the seeds and cut into even-sized pieces. Put into a pan, cover with cold water, bring to the boil and cook until tender, for approximately 20 minutes.
Drain the pumpkin and purée the flesh with a potato ricer or with a potato masher. Leave to cool.
Sift the self-raising flour with the baking powder and bicarbonate into a large bowl. Mix in the wholemeal flour, salt, cinnamon, chocolate chips and sugar.
In another bowl mix together the eggs, yoghurt, milk and Filippo Berio Mild and Light Olive Oil. Stir through the pumpkin purée.
Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together lightly, just enough to bring all the everything. Be careful not to over mix.
Divide the batter evenly between the 12 paper cases and cook in the preheated oven for 30 minutes or until a skewer comes out dry. Leave to cool on a cooling rack.
To make the frosting, sieve the icing sugar into the mascarpone, add the orange juice and 1/2 of the grated orange rind. Whisk the ingredients together.
Spread the topping evenly over the cooled muffins and finish by sprinkling the remaining orange zest over the top.