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Go straight to the Chocolate chip muffins recipe

OK, I love chocolate so chocolate chip muffins are a must in my kitchen but it used to be much worse when I simply couldn't live without chocolate. It's much better now but my daughter has taken my old shoes, it seems. I mean yeah, she is a 6 years old kid who likes sweets. However, kids' crazy obsession with milk chocolate is a bit worrying. She reached the point of daily chocolate munching that would result in a little devil situation should we want to prevent it.

A few months ago we have decided to reduce the amount of milk chocolate in her diet. It was clear that we would lose the battle should we cut it down fully straight away. It was time for a bit of imagination. I checked my recipe book and found this chocolate chip muffin recipe. It is true, that this recipe contains chocolate and sugar, but I thought if we swap milk chocolate for dark chocolate and if she eats one muffin instead of the whole bar of her daily dose we would make a great step forward.

What a surprise, she was delighted. First time when we tested our improved chocolate chip muffin recipe I asked her for help. She was thrilled as you can imagine, mixing, weighing, stirring,... and enjoying her work with all the "senses", quite literally. We swapped milk chocolate with dark solid chocolate chips. Her favorite part (of course) was piling muffin tops with as many chocolate flakes as possible. But surprisingly just a few ended up in her mouth.

The muffins turned out delicious. As usual we couldn't wait and had them straight from the oven. My daughter adored them from the first bite, carefully picked all the chocolate flakes from the top and munched her way through with no waste allowed. Surprisingly she didn't complain about the taste of dark chocolate at all. But the best thing, that day she didn't ask for another muffin or another piece of chocolate. There was no usual craving!

I've got to say that these days she eats far less chocolate than she used to. She has stayed the big chocolate lover, but in kind of a normal way. Believe it or not but she can sometimes survive three days without any chocolate. Potential chocolate attacks are quickly subdued with a piece of dark chocolate or a trip to the kitchen to bake chocolate chip muffins or any other dark chocolate cakes. All in all, she enjoys baking rather than crawling over tons of chocolate.

This muffin recipe is also one of the few desserts that I will probably never get tired of. Muffins are always quickly gobbled up. While I and Marusa like them steaming hot from the oven, my husband thinks they are best cooled down. The favorite part is having them with our morning (or afternoon) coffee. There is something so wonderful about the combination of coffee and chocolate. It's a bit of alchemy I think. The acidity in coffee brings out the deep flavors and aroma of chocolate, the rest is pure joy.

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Method (step by step):

	STEP 1: In a large bowl stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
	STEP 2: In another bowl stir together milk, eggs, butter and vanilla until blended.
	STEP 3: Make a well in the center of dry ingredients and add the milk mixture. Stir just to combine.
	STEP 4: Stir in chocolate chips.
	STEP 5: Fill paper cups 2/3 with batter and bake them 25-30 minutes on temperature 190 degrees C.
	STEP 6: Chocolate chip muffins are baked when the toothpick inserted in the center of it comes out clean.
	STEP 7: The taste of Turkish coffee makes a great match with the taste of chocolate.

 

Optional:

	Sometimes before baking I sprinkle chocolate flakes over the top of chocolate chip muffins. .
	After baking the top is crunchier because of added chocolate flakes.

 

Our coffee choice for freshly baked chocolate chip muffins:

cappuccino
espresso
cafe latte
Turkish coffee

 

It was really difficult to decide which coffee is best with chocolate chip muffins. As always this is a personal choice. If you have sweet teeth than you might prefer the taste of muffins to prevail over coffee. Well, if that is the case cappuccino and cafe latte make the best match. But if you prefer the taste of coffee than Turkish coffee or espresso do best in my opinion. The taste of Turkish coffee goes so well with chocolate but at the same time strengthens coffee's rich flavors.
 

Useful baking tips:

• If you like your muffins vey sweet than use chocolate chips made from white chocolate. White chocolate is sweeter than black chocolate.

• But if you prefer healthier chocolate option use dark chocolate with a minimum of 70% cocoa content. Dark chocolate contains antioxidants, but is also very fatty with heaps of calories so be careful and don't eat more than 100g per day.

• To check if muffins are baked just insert the toothpick. If it comes out clean, then muffins are baked.

• Regularly check muffins during baking. Lower the temperature if chocolate on top starts getting dark and/or burnt. The muffins won't taste good if they are over baked.
   

Good to know:

• The word chocolate comes from Aztec word CACAHUATL or XOCOLATL and means bitter water.

• Chocolate is made from cocoa beans and is a great source of energy.

• Chocolate first came to Europe in 16th century but the Mayans established cocoa plantations long before 400 AD.

• In many coffee shops around the world coffee is served with a small chocolate bar and there are many coffee recipes combining chocolate and coffee.

• Both coffee and chocolate work on us like stimulants. Caffeine in coffee is a natural stimulant acting on central nervous system.

• In chocolate there is another mild stimulant called Theobromine which relaxes the muscles of bronchi and lungs. This stimulant lasts longer than caffeine and has a mood improving effect.

• So, when you feel a bit down and tired just enjoy a cup of delicious freshly brewed coffee and chocolate chip muffins.:)
   

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