These Chocolate Chip Muffins Are Better Than Cupcakes

Chocolate chip muffins may not seem like a breakfast of champions, but if you’ve been following us here at Raise, you know that feeding Levon has been a challenge since he was born. He eats fairly well at dinner, lunch is hit and miss, but breakfast is consistently a disaster. Most mornings, we’re thankful to get half a bottle of PediaSure Grow and Gain into him before school. Yes, we have worked with therapists and nutritionists. Yes, we have tried sneaking veggies and extra fat and calories into his food. We’ve met with every specialist and run every test available in hopes of an explanation, but the truth is, some preemies struggle with eating challenges for years.

One of my all-time favorite breakfast recipes is from Gwyneth Paltrow’s first cookbook — Blythe’s Blueberry Muffins. Levon loves the batter and occasionally eats the blueberries, but he will never considering touching a baked muffin. To be fair, he doesn’t like cupcakes either. At a recent birthday party, he devoured a piece of cake for the first time in his life. The cake was dense, more like wedding cake than a cupcake, and he loved the texture. Hoping to find something he might eat for breakfast, I used the base of Blythe’s muffin’s and swapped the berries for chocolate chips. The muffins have been a huge hit with him, and he’s declared them even better than cupcakes.

Ingredients

½ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

2 eggs (preferably organic)

½ cup whole milk

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

¾ cup plus 1 tsp sugar, divided

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

chocolate chips

Directions

Heat oven to 375°. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.

Whisk butter, eggs and milk in a bowl. Combine flour, 3/4 cup sugar, baking powder and salt in another bowl. Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients; fold in chocolate chips.

Divide batter evenly among muffin cups; sprinkle with remaining 1 tsp sugar.

Bake until muffins are golden brown and a knife comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.

From Gwyneth Paltrow’s From My Father’s Daughter: Delicious, Easy Recipes Celebrating Family & Togetherness.