Yield: 18 muffins

If you’ve been following me for a while, you might know that I bake … a lot. There aren’t many baked goods that I’ll see in a bakery that I’ll want to buy vs. make myself. But for some reason (I don’t really know why!), bakery muffins, with their high domed tops, have always tempted me. Ironically, muffins are among the easiest baked goods to make, so I was determined to make a version at home that is as tempting as the ones you’ll find at a bakery.

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• ¾ cup oil
• 1½ cups  sugar
• 1 tsp  vanilla extract
• 1 tsp  baking powder
• 1 tsp  baking soda
• ½ tsp  sea salt
• 2⁄3 cup  cocoa powder
• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup  buttermilk or 1 cup non-dairy buttermilk substitute (see Tip!)
• 9 oz chocolate chunks or chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line muffin pans with paper liners; set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, oil, sugar, vanilla, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until combined.

Add cocoa powder, flour and buttermilk. Stir until combined.

Add most of the chocolate chunks to the batter, stirring to combine.

Fill muffin pans until almost full. Sprinkle reserved chocolate chunks over the top.

Bake for about 20 minutes, until the top feels set.

Tip: In place of chocolate chips or chunks, chop up a bar of your favorite high-quality chocolate to enhance the flavors in this muffin.

Tip: If preparing your own buttermilk, add lemon juice to a measuring cup. Add non-dairy or dairy milk to the 1-cup mark. Let sit for 5 minutes, until it appears curdled.

By Miriam (Pascal) Cohen from “Overtime Cook”