Chocolate Chip Muffins

A little bit of chocolate can go a long way. I made these last night as an early Valentine's Day treat. Nothing like the smell of chocolate wafting through the air as one warms up with a cup of Fortnum's Royal Blend tea. 

Oddly enough I do not own many cookbooks dedicated to chocolate. The recipe came from this cookbook produced by Reader's Digest. It is a pretty straight forward and basic cookbook. I agree with the irresistible, heavenly, luscious, tempting and sinful statement pronounced on the cover. This book shares a brief history on chocolate before diving into the many chocolate recipes. Covering everything from cakes, cookies, brownies and candies, pastries, pies and tarts, quick breads, muffins and coffee cakes, soufflés, custard and fruit crisps and holiday and celebration desserts. The abundance of chocolate captives one with this glossy coffee table style cookbook.

Chocolate Chunk Muffins

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2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 cup milk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 ounces (4 squares) semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Grease 12 standard size muffin pan cups or line the muffin tin with paper liners.

Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

Mix together milk, oil, egg and vanilla.

Make a well in the centre of flour mixture. Add milk mixture all at once to well, tossing with a fork until dry ingredients are just moistened. Stir in chocolate chips. (Do not over mix) Spoon batter into prepared pan, filling cups three-quarters full.

Bake muffins until tops are firm and golden, 18-20 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool slightly. Turn muffins out onto rack to cool completely. 

Makes 1 dozen muffins.

Notes: I substituted the oil for the same amount of applesauce. This cut down on the fat. I also substituted the coarsely chopped chocolate chunks for 1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips. I found that the oven temperature may be a bit too hot so you may want to adjust the temperature and baking times. And use good quality muffin papers.

-JW