heenie's food blog

          If a picture is worth a thousand words then a photo with 12 gorgeous muffins would be what? 12 thousand words? At least this equation was simple.

Not all muffins/cupcakes have  dometop. In fact some aren’t suppose to rise much and the top remains flat. This one has a prominent curved top which looks absolutely gorgeous specially when still in the pan.

Do I have your attention now?? Kidding. Wanna discuss a bit of science behind this? It has a lot more leavening agent than usual; muffin case is filled all the way to the top; the temperature is higher for the first few minutes of baking to let the ingredients work quickly and “rise to the occasion”; then the temperature is lowered for thorough baking.

I prefer not to use paper liners for this recipe so muffins can rise well, without sticking to the pan and to achieve this deep golden brown colour on the sides.

ingredients: ( 12 muffins)

3 cups flour

4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

2 eggs, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 cup buttermilk or milk, (see note)

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips or grated baking chocolate

 method:

Preheat oven at 425 F/ 220 C. Grease the muffin pan well.

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in a medium bowl and mix well. Whisk eggs and sugar together. Pour buttermilk/milk, oil and vanilla into egg sugar mixture. Fold wet ingredients into flour mixture. Fold in chocolate chips. The batter will will be very thick and somewhat lumpy but do not over mix otherwise muffins would become tough. Fill the muffin holes all the way to the top with the batter. Bake at 425 F/220 C for 5 minutes then reduce to 375 F/ 190 C and bake for further 18-19 minutes until the tops are lightly golden. Let the muffins cool 15-20 before removing from the pan. Transfer to wire rack and cool completely.

Note: Buttermilk is preferred for better texture. Add a tablespoon of white vinegar to a cup of plain milk, let it stand for 2-3 minutes and TADA! You have buttermilk.