Chocolate Chip Muffins

There are two kinds of muffins: the healthy, not too sweet kind (like the wonderful bran muffins I made recently), and the kind that are basically cupcakes without frosting.  Paul loves muffins and he tends to prefer those of the cupcake variety.  Several days ago I got it into my head that I should make chocolate chip muffins.  Found a recipe on AllRecipes, whipped it up, and ta da!  Delicious muffins, and definitely the "dessert for breakfast" type that Paul likes so much.  Paul and I both really enjoyed them while they lasted, which sadly wasn't that long since the batch only makes 9.  The original recipe says to make mini muffins and I think those would be really good and cute too, but last time I sent Paul to work with cute food (the manatee cookies!) he kind of belly ached about it.  No complaining happened with these muffins though because they're really good and I suppose the size is adequately mannish.  They're packed with chocolate chips, as you can see, and they have a flavor like chocolate chip cookies which isn't surprising since the ingredients are the same.  They are a tad denser than your standard muffin and I doubt the batter would be particularly tasty sans chips, but it stands up nicely to the chocolate and, well, no complaints here!

Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 C flour
1/2 C sugar
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
2/3 C mini chocolate chips
1/4 C butter
1/2 C milk
1 egg, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a muffin tin.  In a glass measuring cup, melt butter in microwave.  Set aside to cool while you mix up the batter.  In a medium bowl, stir together dry ingredients, including mini chocolate chips.  Pour in slightly cooled butter (cooled so it doesn't melt the chocolate chips), then use the same measuring cup to measure the milk.  Pour that in, then crack the egg into the measuring cup and beat it until mostly smooth.  Pour into bowl with the rest of the ingredients.  Stir batter just until everything comes together, being careful not to over mix.  Spoon batter into muffin tin.  Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes.  Good warm or room temperature.  The muffins stay nice for a few days but are best served within a day or two.

Yield: 9 muffins (or approximately 18 mini muffins according to the original recipe)