Muffins. Chocolate and Cinnamon Chip Muffins.

I bake muffins most every Saturday. I don’t dare say every Saturday because that’s just way too much pressure and accountability I don’t need in my life. Needless to say, Saturday comes and Nick asks when the muffins will be ready, like it’s a tradition or something. Boy, that kid is getting to be so spoiled. He also often asks why I can’t just make normal muffins. It’s like he hasn’t even met me before. I’m not sure what exactly he means by normal, but he’s not going to find it in this family. Not any time soon. So as not to disappoint my darling son, I decided to make some different muffins this past weekend, not just the typical chocolate chip muffins that the kids both love. I found a recipe at the Joy of Baking website and thought I’d give it a whirl. A while back I saw some cinnamon chips at the grocery store and since it’s that time of year, I had to buy them and bake with them. Something. Anything. I made cookies that were yummy, but I truly thought they would be absolutely wonderful in muffins and I thought last weekend was a great time to go for it.

Here’s what you need:

• 1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla (as in, real deal pure vanilla, not that imitation stuff) – I use more (about 2 teaspoons), well, because I love vanilla in a lot of what I bake.
• 2 cups flour
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup of chips, whatever you like – on this day I used about a 1/2 cup of cinnamon chips and 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips because they are what I had on hand.
• Topping: 1 tablespoon sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

What you need to do:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease 12 muffin cups or line them with paper. I grease because I hate the waste of the paper.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, and vanilla.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Stir in the chips.
4. With a large rubber spatula gently fold the wet ingredients and butter into the dry ingredients, just until everything is moist. Evenly fill the muffin cups with batter and sprinkle each with the cinnamon/sugar mixture.
5. Bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack for about 5 minutes and serve warm.

I have to say, after my pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, these are my second most favorite. Nick was annoyed by the addition of the cinnamon chips, but somehow he managed to force down two muffins. Paul said they were his new favorite and Cody devoured three of them. I think I might have to stock up on cinnamon chips and make these a few more times. They were a wonderful texture and the topping adds a special touch, making them worthy of Christmas morning. If I didn’t already make cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning I would certainly make these muffins. Something I really love about these muffins is how good they still are on day two. While muffins rarely make it past the morning they are baked in our house, when they do they are often sticky and just not all that appetizing, but these ones are still equally as yummy on day two…..or even day three (I might have had a bite of one this morning).