First of all, I want to thank the genius out there whoever decided to call a cupcake a muffin. I owe this person a lot of gratitude that they made a dessert into an acceptable breakfast option. If I asked my mom for a cupcake without frosting for breakfast I can already tell you how fast a, “no” would come out of her mouth! But if I ask for a chocolate chip muffin? Sure, it is BREAKFAST. Genius.
Although most of the time I am allowed to make blueberry muffins, my mom was having some company over for brunch and I offered to help by making a new recipe. I could tell that she was getting a bit stressed by how messy the house was, so she was more than willing for me to take some of the baking off her of her hands. But I also knew I would most likely be doing this all by myself as she was busy!
I gathered up my materials and starting mixing by dry ingredients. I will admit that I was a bit confused by the directions, as most of the time I am adding the dry to the wet. But this time, the recipe was the opposite.
Did I Remember all of the Ingredients?
The recipe did not say much about whether to use a hand mixer or not, and I find the electric mixer so much easier so I brought it out. As I was mixing, my mom walked over and made the, “ahhhh?” Noise, which usually means she thinks I did something wrong. Then she grabs the recipe and starts firing off questions of whether I remember such and such. Well, this time, she might have had a point. It was looking very dry and clumpy. Turns out, I forgot the milk AND the sour cream.
I of course didn’t think this was much of a problem and just added them after. As I was mixing my mom was saying something about chemistry and baking and that it isn’t always a good idea to just decide when to put ingredients into the batter whenever you remember them. But like all experiments, it was worth a shot!
The recipe does say that this should be a thick batter so that the chocolate chips do not spread to the bottom as it cooks. Still a little nervous about the order of my ingredients, I plopped about a 1/3 cup into them muffin tin. We do not have jumbo muffin pan, but I am thinking of asking for one for Christmas.
I ended up with 18 normal sized muffins. My favorite part of non frosted cupcakes, I mean muffins, is the crunchy coarse sugar on the top, so I made sure to add plenty.
It is important to know your oven, as my mom says, and usually we bake our muffins at 350 degrees F for 18 minutes and they come out perfectly.
Was our Chocolate Chip Muffin Experiment a Success?
I will say that these were a bit dense and somewhat dry for my liking. I think this might have been due to the fact that I probably over mixed, which the recipe specifically said not to do, and probably because of the last minute additions of the wet ingredients. Still, dessert for breakfast is always my first choice!
Bakery-Style Chocolate Chip Muffins
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/3 cup (5 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/3 cup sour cream or yogurt, at room temperature
- 1 cup milk, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 and 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- coarse sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 muffin pans with cupcake liners.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg together in a large bowl.
- Whisk the melted butter, oil, sugar, and eggs together until combined. Then whisk in the sour cream, milk, and vanilla extract. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and fold together until completely combined. Use a whisk to rid any large lumps of flour, if needed. Avoid overmixing. The batter will be thick. Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Divide batter between each muffin cup and fill almost to the top. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Allow to cool for a few minutes before putting on a wire rack.