It’s 34 and raining outside.  If I have to deal with this weather, I’m going to eat my way to happy. This morning, happy came in the form of muffins.

Coffee house style chocolate chip muffins, to be specific.  

You know the kind… that sit temptingly behind that glass with a crisp, rustic outside, that coarse raw sugar glistening under the soft lighting, a soft chewy inside…Yeah, those kind of muffins.

Like all of my baked goods, I started with my personal favorite (self created) flour blend, and sifted all of the dry ingredients together twice.  It takes an extra minute, but it’s worth it. 

In another bowl, whisk together your wet ingredients, then slowly incorporate the dry. Baked Goods 101.  The batter will be thick.

Add chocolate chips. Obviously. I wanted a ‘meal sized’ muffin, so I dived the batter into four in a large muffin pan.  You could make a lot more than that, but there’s a joy in starting Saturday with a muffin the size of your face. Pop them in to a 425 preheated oven, give it 5 minutes, then turn the heat down to 375. When turning down the heat is also when I pulled them out to sprinkled with raw sugar. You could even get more decadent and add some nutella or cocoa powder to the batter, but I did enjoy the semi-sweet simplicity of a cinnamon-vanilla coffee cake type base.  Next time I’m thinking maybe some peanut butter? What would you add? 

Coffee House Style Chocolate Chip Muffins

• 1 ½ Cups The Natural Ginger Gluten Free Flour
• ¼ tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Cinnamon
• 3 tsp Baking Powder
• ½ tsp Xanthan Gum (omit if you use a flour that has it)
• ½ Cup Raw Sugar (+ additional tsp per muffin to top)
• ½ Cup Milk
• ¼ Cup Coconut Oil
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 Egg + 1 Egg Yolk
• ¾ Cup Chocolate Chips

1. Preheat Oven to 425
2. Sift together the flour, salt, cinnamon, baking powder and xanthan gum
3. In microwave safe bowl, melt the coconut oil (or use any vegetable oil).
4. Add sugar, milk, vanilla, egg and egg yolk, giving everything a quick whisk
5. Slowly add dry ingredients to the wet, stirring to fully combine without over mixing
6. Stir in chocolate chips
7. Divide batter, which will be very thick, into a muffin pan. The above recipe makes 4 large, about 8 medium, or 16 mini muffins.
8. Bake at 425 for 5 minutes, then turn down heat to 375
9. Pull rack out from the oven so you can access the parbaked muffins, and sprinkle with raw sugar if desired.
10. Bake an additional 10-20 minutes until tops are golden and centers are set.