Chocolate Muffins with Mini-Chocolate Chips

Today was a perfect day for baking.  It was chilly and cloudy early this morning.  Then it started raining.  THEN it started snowing!  This is Dallas, Texas, for goodness sakes.  We don't have snow on December 2!  And the wind started howling...  Time to turn the oven on!  Though the snow only lasted about an hour or so, a little of it did stick to the ground, dusting my yard with a minimal covering of white.  So pretty!

I was going to be a visiting a friend late this morning, so I decided to make a batch of muffins.  Ann of Thibeault's Table had made these chocolate chip muffins and said they were wonderful.  They looked so good, and who would turn down chocolate??  So, off I went to make these wonderful muffins.  The recipe was quick and easy to mix together.  I always line cupcakes and muffin tins with papers - so much easier than greasing and flouring the tins.  And I always use an ice cream scoop to ration out the batter into the papers. 

The aroma of chocolate baking is so heady.  As I've mentioned before, I'm not a chocoholic.  I can generally take it or leave it.  But I do love the smell of chocolate being heated up.  Makes me woozy!  And these muffins were no exception.  Between the cocoa and those little chocolate chips, my kitchen felt warm and cozy.  What a payoff!

Chocolate Muffins with Mini-Chocolate Chips
Source:  Nigella Lawson/ The Food Network

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons best quality cocoa powder
3/4 cup superfine sugar
3/4 cup semisweet mini-chocolate chips, plus 1/4 cup for sprinkling
1 cup milk
1/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Equipment needed:  12-muffin muffin tin, lined with muffin papers

Preheat oven to 400 F.

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa, sugar, and 3/4 cup of mini-chocolate chips.  Mix all liquid ingredients into another bowl, then mix into dry ingredients, being careful not to overmix.  Spoon the batter into prepared muffin pans.  Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup mini-chocolate chips on top of each muffin.  Bake for 20 minutes or until skewer inserted into muffin comes out clean.

Let pan cool on rack for 10 minutes.  Remove muffins from pan and continue cooling them on rack.

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