I've been baking again... Chocolate chip muffins!

Life has been very busy for the last few months so I haven't baked anything since my beautiful chocolate brownies back in June. When I found out that we were having cakes in work after opening our Secret Santa gifts, I decided to get back on the baking bandwagon!

I dug out my Mary Berry 'Cakes and Bakes' book and salivated over all the possibilities for about half an hour. Although I loved my chocolate brownies, I wanted to try a different challenge. I eventually decided on the rather tempting Chocolate Chip American Muffins (page 60). The muffins were really easy to make and went down very well at the Secret Santa gathering. They did taste very good, even if I do say so myself. I followed the recipe literally to the nearest gram, but people must have thought I'd put extra chocolate chips in as the muffins were so very chocolatey. I definitely wasn't going to complain about that, and neither did anyone else!

The finished product (ignore the mess on the tray...)

Recipe (makes 12 muffins)

250g self-raising flour

1 level tsp baking powder

50g butter

75g caster sugar

175g plain chocolate chips

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

250ml milk

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C / Fan 180C / Gas 6. Place your muffin cases into the 12-hole muffin tin. I didn't specifically buy muffin cases, I just used large cupcake cases. 

2. Measure the flour and baking powder into a large bowl then add the butter and rub into the flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. I recommend that you take off your rings before doing this, and I also wouldn't recommend trying to do it with long nails! Stir in the sugar and chocolate chips. 

3. Mix together the eggs, vanilla extract and milk, then pour the mixture all in one go into the dry ingredients. Mix quickly with a wooden spoon to blend. Don't panic if the mixture isn't totally smooth after stirring, it's supposed to have a lumpy consistency. Spoon the mixture into the paper cases in the tin, filling each one almost to the top. I'll be amazed if you can do this without making a mess... look at the mess I created!

4. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until well risen and firm to the touch. Leave to cool for a few minutes in the tray then lift out the paper cases and cool the muffins for a little longer on a wire rack. I don't have a wire rack, so I just cooled them on a different baking tray!

And there you have it... it really is as simple as that. What shall I bake next?