Chocolate Chip Muffins

A few weeks back, I purchased some beautiful cupcake liners from Michael's (did I ever mention I love that store?) and have been waiting to put them to use. A friend of mine had asked me for a good chocolate chip muffin recipe long back, so I thought of putting the two together - the yummy muffins in these pretty liners.

These muffins are easy to make and are hassle-free since you don't need an electric mixer and can use a large spoon or a wire whisk to mix the ingredients. I referred to this recipe and made a few changes as suggested by some reviewers - I increased the quantity of milk, sugar and oil, added vanilla, sprinkled some topping and got some pretty decent chocolate chip muffins.

Ingredients :
2 cups all purpose flour (maida)
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup oil
1 cup milk

Topping:
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 tbsp brown sugar (or regular sugar)

Method :
Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
Line the muffin tray with muffin liners / baking cups. If you don't have muffin liners, grease each cup with oil, butter or cooking spray, so that the muffins come off easily. I definitely prefer using liners since they are more convenient. If you get pretty liners in the market (Michaels has some great ones) use them to package your muffins. They will look lovely specially if you are making them for a birthday party or any special occasion.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Pour chocolate chips, mix well and keep aside.
In a large bowl beat egg. Add vanilla and oil and beat further. Add milk and whisk till the mixture becomes smooth.

To this, add the flour mixture and mix gently for about a minute. Do not overmix, if the batter is a little lumpy, that's fine.

Fill each muffin cup with the batter till it is 3/4th full. I used a 12-cup muffin pan (diameter of each cup being 2 3/4  inches). This recipe yields 12 muffins (unless you like good things like uncooked cake or cookie batter, in which case you may get just eleven. I got eleven and a half, I'm on a diet).

Mix 1/4th cup chocolate chips with 1 or 2 tbsp brown sugar and sprinkle a little bit of the mixture on each.

Bake for 18 to 20 mts, till a fork inserted in the muffin (not the chocolate chip) comes out clean. [If you are using a mini-muffin tray, bake for a shorter time].

I baked for 20 minutes so I got a slightly crispy crust with a nice golden brown colour. Also, the brown sugar on top makes the top of the muffin slightly sweeter than the inside.

Gently remove the muffins from the tray along with the liners and allow to cool completely. Arrange them in whatever way you want. And just look at them. Say 'to hell with my diet' and eat one.

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