Sparkling Chocolate Chip Muffins

Simple (966) Snack (848) Baking (674) Chocolate (537) Sweet (414) Muffins (91) Buttermilk (10)

This recipe is a slightly altered version of the traditional chocolate chip recipe as the muffins are lightly sprinkled with course sugar crystals, giving it the sparkling finish. One thing to note before making these muffins is that you don't need to use an electric mixture, as the chocolate chip batter only needs to be lightly and gently stirred. This results in the muffins being soft and fluffy.

If you don't have buttermilk on hand, don't panic, you can easily make it by stirring 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar into 1 cup of milk and setting it aside for 10 minutes.

Sparkling chocolate chip muffins are simply delicious when prepared and cooked perfectly, so definitely give them a go!

Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 17-18 minutes
Makes: 12 servings

Ingredients

3 cups plain flour,

4 teaspoons baking powder,

1 teaspoon salt,

1 teaspoon cinnamon,

1 teaspoon nutmeg,

2 eggs, at room temperature,

1 cup granulated sugar,

1 cup buttermilk,

1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil,

1 teaspoon vanilla extract,

1 & 1/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (or dark chocolate; or milk chocolate)

Course sugar for sprinkling

Method

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees C, ensuring that the racks are placed in the centre of the oven. Line the muffin tray with muffin cups and set aside.

In a large bowl, gently stir the plain flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt together until they are combined. Set aside.

In another bowl, whisk together the eggs and the sugar until they are combined.

Mix in the buttermilk, oil and vanilla. It should turn a pale yellow colour.

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together with a wooden spoon. Try to avoid over mixing as they will become hard once cooked. Make sure that there is no flour stuck to the bottom of the bowl and that no large clumps of flour are left.

Gently fold the chocolate chips into the batter.

Pour the batter into the muffin cups all the way to the top and sprinkle the muffins with course sugar.

Bake the muffins in the oven at 220 degrees C for approximately 5 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 190 degrees C and bake for a further 12-13 minutes until the tops are slightly golden and the centres appear to be set.