Mighty Muffins
A basic lesson in muffin baking is found in the Good Eating section of last week’s Chicago Tribune. James P. DeWan, an instructor at the Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago, explains that the basic method of muffin baking is essentially the same for all quick breads, including scones and pancakes. The simple recipe allows for seemingly endless variations and also, muffins freeze well, providing convenient availability.
Mr. DeWan shares several techniques to ensure failproof muffins everytime. For the best results, dry ingredients and wet ingredients are mixed in separate bowls. Then, once the liquid mixture has been combined with the dry, gently incorporate any items used for flavoring the muffins. If first coated with flour, these flavoring items will become more evenly dispersed throughout the muffin batter. While the muffins are baking, the flour coating aids in their suspension within the wet batter. Finally, Mr. DeWan warns against overmixing the batter.
After reading his helpful suggestions, I was immediately tempted to bake a batch Chocolate Chip Muffins, using the accompanying recipe. This simple recipe produces warm, delicious home-baked muffins that are simply irresistible. Each velvety, rich bite of these yummy muffins leaves melted chocolate to linger on your tongue. What could be more irresistible than that?
Chocolate-Chip Muffins
(recipe courtesy: The Chicago Tribune)
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 18 minutes
Yield: 1 dozen
Ingredients:
1 cup plus 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1 cup oat bran or oat flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3 eggs
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup each: half-and-half, dark chocolate chips
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Sift 1 cup of the all-purpose flour, oat bran, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl; set aside. Whisk eggs in a medium bowl until light and airy. Whisk half-and-half and melted butter into eggs; set aside. (Don’t worry if some of the butter solidifies when it hits the cold liquid.) Toss the chocolate chips with remaining 2 teaspoons of the flour; set aside. Make a well in center of the dry ingredients. Add liquid all at once; add the chocolate chips. Quickly combine with a rubber spatula, scraping from the bottom of the bowl. Mix only until the dry ingredients are just moist, a few seconds. (Don’t worry if there are lumps.) Divide batter evenly among greased muffin tins with a 1/4-cup measuring cup; bake until light brown and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 18 minutes.
Nutrition information per muffin: 236 calories, 42% of calories from fat, 12 g fat, 7 g saturated fat, 70 mg cholesterol, 32 g carbohydrates, 5 g protein, 229 mg sodium, 2 g fiber. Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune
