Last night, while sleeping the sleep of a teacher who knows there’s no school in the morning (my district called our snow day last night at 10,) I had a very vivid dream about chocolate chip muffins. When I woke up, I remembered seeing some chocolate chips in the pantry. And what better way to spend an early March snow day than baking?
This recipe, sort-of adapted from this one from King Arthur Flour, yields 12 muffins worth dreaming about.
You’ll need:
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup milk (whole if you have it, although 2% worked just fine)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups (12 ounces) chocolate chips
- Turbinado sugar to dust the tops (optional)
Preheat your oven to 350 with the rack in the middle. Grease a 12-cup muffin pan or line with paper liners.
Cream the butter until it’s light and fluffy. It’s times like these that I love my stand mixer: just turn it on and let it go for a few minutes. Add the sugar, baking powder and salt and beat until combined. Add the vanilla, then add the eggs, one at a time. Add the milk, then add the flour a half-cup at a time. Finally, pour in the chocolate chips. We had two half-empty bags in the pantry, so I wound up with a cup and a half of semi-sweet chips and half a cup of milk chocolate. I think you could use whatever you have on hand or whatever you prefer.
Divide the batter among the muffin cups, filling just about to the rim of each cup. This recipe makes a very thick batter, thick enough that I was a little concerned. The batter seemed more like a dough, better suited to cookies than muffins. Don’t worry, though. I had some individual packets of Sugar In The Raw and I dusted a little of it on the tops before I put them in the oven. It added a nice sweet crust, but if you don’t have any I wouldn’t worry. Bake for 30 minutes and test with a toothpick. Sit back, watch the snow fall and enjoy.
Image via She’s a Rainbow.
