Should I be working on my assignments and catching up on my readings for class? Or, should I bake chocolate chip muffins and share the recipe instead? I think you can guess what I decided to do. Clearly a no brainer.
Believe it or not, I live a very very very exhilarating life whereby my weekends are definitely not spent in my room watching rom-coms in my PJs waiting for some boy to text me. Are you convinced? Okay fine. I also did do some homework, so my life is not all that pathetic.
However, the weather in London is a bit crap (rainy and gloomy) and I am down to my last £5.00. So I despite the tantalizing smells of delicious food, flaky croissants, and rich espresso, I have to tighten my belt. So what do I do? I try and bake tasty treats to avoid eating out. Someone handed me so leftover cupcake liners and that inspired me to make chocolate chip muffins. But since I am back in London and away from the comforts of my house, I have to make recipes that require minimal time and effort. And this is exactly what this chocolate chip muffing recipe achieves.
MINIMAL FUSS
So, after making my way to the grocery store, purchasing all my ingredients (including stuff for my dinners this week), walking back in the rain (without an umbrella), and beginning to bake, I realized I forgot one major ingredient – vegetable oil.
There was no way I was going back to the store so I figured I would improvise and use olive oil instead. Don’t freak out! You can’t taste the olive oil in this. Which means that if you are like me and you do not have any vegetable oil on hand, you can go ahead and use olive oil.
I also use buttermilk in this recipe. If you don’t have buttermilk (like I did), all you have to do is add 1 tbsp of lemon juice or vinegar to 1 cup of milk. Stir and let rest for 5-10 minutes. One thing that frustrates me about London (or at least where I shop), is that every single ingredient is cheap EXCEPT for chocolate. Chocolate and chocolate chips are around £1.50-2.00 for 100-150g! 🙁 That is like $3-4.00! Most of my recipes call for that much chocolate or more in them. Especially a recipe where chocolate chips are integral like chocolate chip muffins. I guess I will have to bring a bunch back from Canada next time I am home 🙂
Finally, this recipe can be made entirely in one bowl. Yay! That means less cleanup for you. Now, if you have not read anything thus far, at least read this one bit of information. The most important piece of advice I can give you regarding muffins is to not overmix your batter. Lumpy batter (like pancakes) will yield a fluffier, softer and tender crumbed muffin. If you make your batter smooth, you will have a chewy-like texture due to the development of gluten. We don’t want that!
If you want to check out some other muffin recipes you can click on this link here! My recipe index will have a section for muffins.
CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS WITH OLIVE OIL
tender crumbs. crisp muffin top. chocolate chips
Chocolate Chip Muffins (with Olive Oil)
Tender crumbed, crispy top, tons of chocolate chips!
Ingredients
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup cane sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips (can add more!)
Instructions
-
Preheat the oven to 400F/200C. Line a muffin tray with cupcake liners. In a large bowl, whisk together the milk, sugar, eggs, lemon zest and vanilla extract. In a small bowl combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, chocolate chips, and salt.
-
Combine the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients. Using a wooden spoon or spatula, carefully incorporate the ingredients until you are left with a lumpy batter (like pancake batter. Don't worry the lumps bake out).
-
Spoon the batter into the cupcake liners (about 3/4 full). Bake for 15-20 minutes, depending on how hot your oven gets. Check your muffins at the 15-minute mark. Lightly press on them, if they spring back your muffins are cooked! Let them cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes before consuming all of them with a glass of milk!
***
I SORT OF WENT OVERBOARD WITH THE PICTURES. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THE LITTLE SKELETON PLATE! #RELATIONSHIP GOALS AM I RIGHT? 😉 ANYWAYS THESE MUFFINS TASTE AS GOOD AS THEY LOOK AND THEY ONLY TAKE 30 MINUTES TO MAKE FROM START TO FINISH. WHICH MEANS YOU CAN MAKE THEM AND THEN EAT THEM WHILE WATCHING NETFLIX!
