Chocolate Chip Muffins

Monday was a big day for my co-workers and I because it was the first day of work for our new interns! We were excited about their arrival, and since we know how much time and work they'll devote to our department this year, we wanted to make their first day extra special. So I decided to bake them a special treat to enjoy while they got acclimated our office.

So I whipped up a batch of Chocolate Chip Muffins!

Like most of my recipes these days, the ingredients for these muffins were simple and conveniently located in my pantry/'fridge.

I started by whisking melted butter with some milk and an egg.

On a piece of wax paper (because I was too lazy to dirty and then clean a second bowl), I measured out the dry ingredients before mixing them into the butter/milk/egg concoction.

Then it was time for the best part: mini chocolate chips! (I'm not sure what my obsession is with this tiny morsels these days, but I love 'em!)

Once the batter was finished, I added paper baking cups to a muffin pan...

And using a batter scoop...

Distributed the muffin batter equally into the muffin liners.

And after about 18 minutes in a 400 degree oven (where I rotated the pan and sprinkled extra chocolate chips on top of the muffins about halfway through), I was moments away from a tasty treat.

(A while ago I read that you should flip muffins in the pan while they cool in order to release steam, so I did that as well. I have no idea if the steam-thing is real, but ever since I've employed the technique my muffins have been pretty tasty, so why stop now, right?)

And after a short while, my muffins were cool and ready to enjoy.

If you would like to bake these muffins for your interns (or other loved ones) someday, here's the recipe:

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Recipe adapted by Steinway Street

Ingredients:

3/4 cup milk

1/4 cup butter, melted

1 egg

1 3/4 cup flour (I used whole-wheat)

1/2 cup miniature chocolate chips

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Heat oven to 400 degrees, and line a muffin pan with 12 paper baking cups. Beat milk, butter and egg in large bowl with whisk. Stir in remaining ingredients until flour is moistened. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Bake about 18 minutes, taking care to rotate the pan halfway through the baking process. Upon removing baking pan from oven, flip muffins in the pan so steam is released. When muffins are cool enough to touch, enjoy!

These muffins are pretty tasty and not too sweet, which is a nice surprise for a chocolate-themed dessert. And the best part? Our interns appreciated the special treat we provided on their first day!

Thanks for stopping by- I hope you have a great day!

Muffins so good, even the Easter Bunny would love them!

My friend's favorite dessert is carrot cake. So when I came across a recipe for Carrot Cake Muffins on the King Arthur Flour website, I couldn't resist trying them out.

The ingredients were really simple (and I happened to have most of them in my cupboard).

I started by making the cream cheese filling for the muffins (did I mention that the muffins have a cream cheese filling... I thought that was pretty cool!).

In a separate bowl I combined the dry ingredients...

Before adding the water, oil...

And eggs.

One the batter was mixed, I chopped up some carrots (thanks to the mini-food processor I inherited from my grandparents years ago)...

And folded them into the dough.

When the batter was ready to go, I turned my attention to the muffin cups. I picked these out of the $1 bin at Michael's earlier this spring...

(Leave it to Paula Deen to design the cutest muffin cups. And at $1, they're some of the most inexpensive I've purchased in a while!)

I greased the muffin cups (per the recipe, and I'm so glad I did) and got ready to assemble the muffins.

I used a batter scoop and added a dollop of batter to the bottom of the muffin cup. Using a smaller scoop I added some of the cream cheese filling, before adding more muffin batter to cover the filling.

After I did that 12 times, I was ready to place the muffin pan into a pre-heated, 400 degree oven!

And in just under 20 minutes, the muffins were finished!

Don't they look delish?

When they had cooled to a point where I could touch them, I flipped them all on their sides so the steam could escape (at least I think that's why I was supposed to flip them...).

And when they had cooled even more, it was time to try one!

(By the way, I'm totally in love with those muffin cups!)

(And since I had greased them, they pulled right off the muffin... so cool!)

But the best part of these muffins comes when you break them open: the cream cheese filling is the perfect addition to the hearty muffins!

If you'd like to make these muffins for the Easter Bunny this weekend (or anybody in your family), here's the recipe:

Carrot Cake Muffins

Adapted from the King Arthur Flour recipe

Filling
1 8-ounce package cream cheese
1/4 cup granulated sugar

Muffins
2 1/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
¼ cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup grated carrots, lightly packed; about 2 medium-large carrots

Directions
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a muffin pan with paper muffin cups, and grease the cups. To make the filling, place the cream cheese in a microwave-safe bowl, and heat on low power for 40 seconds. Stir in the sugar and flavor. Set aside. To make the muffin batter, in a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Fold in the grated carrots, stirring to combine. Drop about 2 tablespoons of the batter (a tablespoon cookie scoop works well here) into each muffin cup, spreading it to cover the bottom. Dollop on a heaping tablespoon of filling; a level tablespoon cookie scoop works well here. Cover with enough batter to fill the muffin cups quite full. Bake the muffins until a toothpick inserted into the cake part of one (not into the cream cheese filling) comes out clean, about 20 minutes. The tops of the muffins will feel firm to the touch. Remove the muffins from the oven, and as soon as you're able to handle them, transfer them to a rack. If you serve the muffins warm, the filling will be molten. If you wait for them to cool, it'll firm up.

And while I don't even like carrot cake, I must admit that these muffins are quite tasty... and I definitely took Paula Deen's advice and enjoyed one of these treats! Oh- and my friend really enjoyed them, too!

Thanks for visiting- I hope you have a great day!!

Makin' muffins...

The other day, I was feeling guilty for neglecting my kitchen... so, I decided to whip up some Blueberry Sour Cream Muffins. I started with this tasty group of ingredients: Here's a little montage of the components- don't you love my new salt pig? SFS spotted it when we were out and about a few weekends ago, and I'm thrilled with it!
After everything was measured, I started mixing.
While the Kitchen Aid did her thing (yeah, mine's a girl), I turned my attention to the blueberries.
Aren't they pretty? They tasted pretty good, too!
Now, the recipe requires that you add the rest of the ingredients, alternating between the the dry and sour cream...
Before gently folding in the blueberries.
But before I go any further, I have to show you the muffin cups I used:
Don't you just LOVE that plaid? I couldn't resist picking up a container of these when I passed them in the grocery store!
But back to the task at hand. After I placed the liners in my muffin tin, I proceeded to make a huge mess by attempting to take a photo whilst pouring the batter!
But it was worth it...
Because that batter baked up into these sweet little muffins!
Aren't they cute?
I'll admit it- I'm a weak soul, and I couldn't stop myself from tearing off the muffin liner...
And diving right in! Now tell me- doesn't that look scrumptious? (And yes- I might of massacared the rest of the muffin in order to photograph the perfect forkfull... anything for my blog!)
If you'd like to try these muffins yourself, here's the recipe:

Blueberry Sour Cream Muffins
2 whole Eggs
1 cup Sugar
½ cups Vegetable Oil
½ teaspoons Vanilla Extract
¼ teaspoons Almond Extract
2 cups Flour
1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
½ teaspoons Baking Soda
1 cup Sour Cream
1 cup Blueberries
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and prepare your muffin pan. In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking soda, and set aside. In your mixer, beat your eggs on medium-low and gradually add in sugar. Then slowly add in the oil and extracts. Alternately add in the flour and sour cream until all combined and then gently fold in the blueberries. Pour batter into muffin cups and bake for about 20 minutes.

Thank you for stopping by- I hope you have a great Thursday!