I’ve been getting into bad breakfast habits again.  I find myself getting a calorie-loaded egg and cheese bagel more often than usual or I’ll end up skipping breakfast altogether and be so starving by 10am that I’ll eat handfuls of miniature Reese’s peanut butter cups out of the candy bowl in the office next door.  It’s terrible.  I decided it was time to make some muffins that I could keep stored away for a quick grab-and-go each morning.  Rather than deprive myself of that morning chocolate I’ve been getting used to, I thought these Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Muffins would be a perfect transition back into normal breakfast eating.

A simple muffin batter is jazzed up with a splash of red wine vinegar and chocolate chips, which are also used to top of these puffy cocoa gems.  I used regular chocolate chips in place of mini-chocolate chips because I had them on hand but I can only imagine how rich and chocolatey these muffins would be with little bits of melted chocolate in every bite.  These muffins satisfy any chocolate urge you get and are perfectly light enough to eat with your morning coffee.  Now I can actually feel a little less guilty about eating chocolate for breakfast.

Also, I want to take a moment to wish my cousin-more-like-a-little-brother Ben a very, very Happy Birthday today!  Check out his novel, Harvitz, As To War, here.

The ingredients:

Combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk.  Make a well in center of mixture.

Combine water, red wine vinegar, canola oil, vanilla and egg in a separate bowl, stirring well.  Stir in half of the chocolate chips and add mixture to the well in the flour mixture.  Stir just until moist.

Coat 12 muffin liners with cooking spray and divide batter evenly among muffin cups.  Top remaining chocolate chips evenly over batter.  

Bake in a 400°F oven for 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool for 5 minutes in pan on a wire rack.

Additions:  None

Omissions:  None

Substitutions:

• Whole-wheat flour for 3/4 cup white flour
• Regular chocolate chips for minichips

Overall Rating:  Love It

Source:  Cooking Light Magazine