Vanilla Vanilla Cupcakes

There are two stories relating to these cupcakes, and the first is the story of baking them. While shopping for ingredients, I discovered that the grocery store was out of disposable muffin pans. Not wanting to wander around West Philly searching for them, I decided to try out the muffin cups that supposedly allow you to bake muffins by filling the cups and placing them on a regular baking tray. Bad idea. The couldn't hold their shape, and expanded significantly in the oven, causing the cupcakes to become smushed into several giant, deformed cakes. I ended up making an entire second batch -- in the non-disposable cupcake pan that I had forgotten I owned. Thank goodness the recipe was super easy.

The second story (this one is actually not really story) relates to serving the cupcakes. We brought them to New Jersey to serve at a reception for my grandmother's art show at her public library. The event was hilarious, because how could a gathering of 65+ Jewish people from New Jersey not be?

The recipe for the cupcakes is from the Magnolia Bakery, so we knew that they would taste great. Despite this, they surpassed our expectations by miles, tasting seriously out of this world. These cupcakes are fluffy like clouds, and moist like the softest cake. They taste like warm vanilla sugar, but not overwhelmingly. They hold together well, but melt gently on the tongue. With the icing, there's no question that these cupcakes have been precisely designed to taste like the most perfect little vanilla cakes in the world.

Ingredients:
(cupakes)
1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

(icing)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
6 to 8 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and line muffin tins with cupcake papers. In a small bowl, combine the flours, and set aside. In a large bowl, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Incorporate the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. Spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about three-quarters. Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean. Cool completely before icing.

To make icing, place butter, 4 cups of sugar, milk and vanilla in a bowl. Beat until smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to spread. You may not need to add all of the sugar. If desired, add a few drops of food coloring and mix thoroughly. Icing can be store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days.

Zucchini Muffins with Chocolate Chips

On our second day of Spring Fling, we needed to make something delicious for a friend's brunch. We wanted to bake so that we could bring goodies that were still warm from the oven, but didn't have a lot of time in the morning. And since a lot of our friends have tasted many of our brunch recipes, we were reluctant to fall back on old staples. After piddling around recipe sites for a while, I decided to search the Smitten Kitchen archives, where I found a recipe for zucchini bread -- something that I've always loved, but never made myself. Because her recipes have never failed us (or likely, anyone) we decided to go for it. We opted for muffins instead of loaves to make serving easier.

Surprisingly, we were able to throw these muffins together in about 5o minutes total. Our food processor allowed us to grate the zucchini in no time, and the batter was extremely simple to mix after that. As soon as we sampled the raw mixture, we knew that these would be as delicious as we had hoped. It had such a perfect sweet and spicy combination that honestly think I could have eaten the entire batter bowl plain. Once baked, the texture was great and I think that everyone loved the way that they tasted. We added the optional chocolate chips and used apple pie spice because we were out of nutmeg, but I really wouldn't change anything from the original recipe, which I'm posting below.

P.S. We've been making muffins and cupcakes like crazy lately, but they'll be more variety soon!
Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil (or olive, but we used vegetable)
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 cups grated zucchini
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional, we didn't do this)
1 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350, and line 24 muffin cups with paper liners. In a large bowl, whisk eggs together, then add oil and sugar, then zucchini and vanilla. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add chocolate chips or nuts to dry mixture. Pour dry mixture into wet mixture, and stir until just combined. Spoon batter into muffin cups, and bake for about 20-25 minutes, until inserted knife comes out clean. Cool and serve.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Mint Ganache and Icing

This post is bittersweet -- and not because of the ridiculous quantities of chocolate in the recipe. For our wonderful friend Lara's birthday, we baked her mint chocolate cupcakes and a gorgeous dulce de leche ice cream cake. The cake had layers of dulce de leche ice cream and raspberry sorbet, with an almond graham cracker crust and sugary strawberries on top. We bought our first spring-form pan for the occasion, and produced a perfectly striped and delicious creation. Here's the bitter part: We have no pictures. I'm devastated, but Alex says it's sometimes good to not blog what we make to ensure that the process remains organic and not internet-driven. I think the fact that I'm this saddened means that he is correct.

The sweet news is that we made some knock-out mint chocolate cupcakes that we did remember to photograph. The recipe is inspired completely by Cupcake Bakeshop by Chockylit, and we took the mint ganache and mint icing directly from her blog. The cupcakes included in this recipe looked a tad too rich for our tastes, however, and we instead went with a basic chocolate cupcake recipe from Baking Bites.

Though these cupcakes were relatively time-consuming (we made the icing first, then the cupcakes themselves, then the ganache), they were well worth it. I personally thought they tasted incredible, and I think that others agreed. My favorite component was the subtle peppermint buttercream icing, though the package itself is unbeatable. These are definitely rich, so be prepared to split them.

Because there are so many components, I'm going to post the recipes and ingredients in sections. Happy Birthday, Lara! We love you.

Chocolate Cupcakes
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter, very soft
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup warm milk

Preheat oven to 350. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners. In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla. Alternate adding flour and milk. Pour batter into tins, and bake for 15-17 minutes until knife comes out clean. Cool.

Chocolate-Mint Ganache
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup and 1 teaspoon chopped mint leaves (or more for garnish)
1 tbsp butter

Chop chocolate and place in heat proof bowl. Heat cream and 1/4 cup mint until bubbles form around the edge of the pan, pour cream through strainer, over the chocolate. Let sit for a minute, then stir until combined. Add butter and tbsp mint and combine. Cool then refrigerate to thicken for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Mint Buttercream Frosting
1 cup butter
4-5 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/8 teaspoon peppermint extract

Beat butter until creamy, scrape bowl. Add 4 cups of sifted powdered sugar, milk, and peppermint extract, then beat until combined. Add more sugar if necessary.

Assembly
Once the cupcakes have cooled, use a knife to cut a cone shape out of the top of each. Fill each muffins with about a tsp of ganache, then cut of the tip of the cone and place it back on the cupcake. Ice and serve, garnished with a small mint leaf.

Big Apple Muffins

...Because we are moving to New York!

It's strange for me to sometimes write about personal things on a recipe blog. Many people who read this know us, and are therefore aware of our life updates. But we've also made so many friends in the blogopshere with whom we want to share our news. So if you know us, just scroll to the recipe.

Back to the excitement: After graduating in May, we are moving to NYC, where Alex will attend medical school at Mount Sinai, and I will attend law school at Columbia. We're super happy, as both of our first-choice schools are just a few blocks (and two parks) away from each other. The best part is that Two Fat Als will live on -- though we'll have to change the tag line from "cooking in college" to "cooking in graduate school" or "cooking under stress" or something. Suggestions are welcome.

To celebrate, we've baked ourselves some big apple muffins, loosely based on this recipe. We even invested in an extra-large muffin pan for the occasion. These big apple muffins are kind of like the apple cinnamon swirl muffins that we made earlier, but they're bigger and better and have walnuts and a strudel topping. Deliciously moist with a good crunchy topping, these muffins are surely a sign of good things to come.

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/4 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups shredded apple
1/2 cup chopped apples
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cups walnuts

(strudel topping)
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375. Line muffin pan with muffin cups. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a medium-sized bowl. In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time, and then vanilla. Stir in apples and walnuts. Slowly stir in flour mixture until just combined. To make strudel topping, use your fingers to mix the ingredients until it feels coarse. Spoon batter into muffin cups, and sprinkle strudel on top. Cook for about 18 minutes for regular-sized muffins, or about 20-25 minutes for larger muffins.

Chocolate Chocolate Easter Cupcakes

As mentioned earlier, we try to cook for holidays with a blind eye toward their religious affiliations (or lack thereof). But because Easter slipped past us last year, I admit that this marks my first attempt baking for the holiday. Originally, I wanted to go all out -- cupcakes with coconut nests and chocolate eggs. After some experimenting, however, it seemed too much, and we settled for just the eggs. It was a good thing too, given the already intensely rich creaminess of the icing, paired with the deliciously coconut almond chocolate cakes.

In a word, these cupcakes were decadent. We designed them specifically for Alex's dad, a full-blown chocoholic, and I think they contain more chocolate than any item we've baked before. But though they didn't contain the lightness of a Spring day, they looked just as beautiful, and tasted as lovely as anything. The cake (thankfully) wasn't overly sweet, so it complimented the icing perfectly. We found the recipes for both the cake and the frosting on Epicurious, and since I wouldn't change a thing for either one, I won't bother reposting them. Just pop three Cadbury Mini-Eggs on each, and serve.

Lucky Muffins

I'm the person you hate, the person who picks the charms out of the Lucky Charms cereal box. You may also know me as the person who only eats the icing off cakes, or -- and I swear this only happened once -- the person who licks the cheese powder off cheesy pretzels. I just want to eat what I like, and I loooooove those little charms. I love their crunch and I'm cheered by how bright and artificial they are. The idea of designing a muffin around them is one that I'd been toying with for a while. I first thought about baking a cereal-based muffin a few months ago, but when deciding which cereal to incorporate, I couldn't get these charms out of my brain (my mind grapes -- 30 Rock, anyone?) So though this version doesn't have actual cereal, stay tuned, because this is only the beginning of a wonderful journey into the unknown world of cereal muffins.

I was pretty nervous about these because I didn't know what exactly would happen to them in the oven. The great news is that the muffins themselves came out wonderfully. They looked a bit wacky because of the colors, but the charms melted the perfect amount, and even kept their crunch. The mediocre news is that I used a sub-par marshmallow icing recipe (I should have known from the proportions, but I was too excited to notice) and my icing came out wet. I didn't have more powdered sugar and I didn't feel like figuring something else out, so I just used gooey icing. The story ends happily, though, because the muffins tasted great and so did the icing, which eventually hardened. So the muffins look a little drippy, but they managed to retain the St. Patrick's Day look (and the deliciousness) that I originally aimed for!

I used the basic vanilla muffin recipe from our vanilla chocolate chip muffins, and simply substituted in the charms. I'm not going to post the marshmallow icing recipe that I'm used, but I'm sure there are millions out there that you can use and just dye a bit green with food coloring. Be sure to top your muffins with an extra charm for good luck!


Ingredients:
2 cups self-rising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup superfine sugar
1 1/2 cup marshmallow charms
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup milk (skim works)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 400. Line your muffin pan with paper muffin cups. Mix the flour and baking powder together in a large bowl, add the butter and rub it into the mixture. Stir in sugar. In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, milk and vanilla, then pour this mixture over the dry one. Mix in charms until combined, and spoon batter into the muffin cups. Bake for about 20 minutes, until well-risen and golden. Cool for about 10 minutes, and serve.

Jacqui Muffins

Holy mother of muffins, we've truly outdone ourselves. I'd call them gems, but they are more like diamonds -- big, beautiful, shining diamond muffins. I'm so proud!

So sometimes clothing designers do this thing where they name pieces after people who inspire them, like "Emily dress" or "Sara tee," and I thought why not do the same for food. These are Jacqui muffins, inspired my roommate. Since a "Jacqui dress" would be high-fashion but classic, with tons of awesome elements that come together perfectly, I tried to achieve the same composition in this muffin. Besides, Jacqui loves to order muffins at overpriced coffee shops, especially when they come in pretty wrappings like the ones we used. But if you feel awk calling a muffin after someone you don't know, you could just call these Everything muffins, because it is essentially what they are. And when Everything is assembled with careful proportion, it's a wonderful thing.

I started out with a modified batter (I made it half whole wheat) from our carrot cake muffins, and added from there, adjusting the wet ingredients to compensate. I threw in anything that I thought would taste good, including nuts, seeds, oats, raisins and orange zest. The result was a super intense, moist, scrumptious muffin that is perfect for anytime. Have fun baking them for the red-headed Canadian Whartonite roomie in your life.

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp orange zest
3/4 tsp baking soda
4 eggs
1 cup canola oil
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup coconut
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted and coarsely shopped
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup golden raisins
2 cups raw carrot, grated
1 large apple, peeled and grated

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350, line muffin pan with cups. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in orange zest, walnuts, coconut, rolled oats, raisins and pumpkin seeds. In a separate bowl, lightly beat eggs, and whisk in vanilla and oil. Add wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Add carrot and apple, and mix. Spoon batter into muffin cups. Bake until an inserted knife comes out clean. For normal-sized muffins, this should be about 20 minutes, but cooking time will vary.

Not-Valentine's Day Double Chocolate Muffins with Strawberry Frosting

We're not really Valentine' Day people. It's not that we're too cool (though we are), it's more that we've each had so many unsuccesses that we've given up. This year, we're having a Valentine's Day Massacre bar crawl downtown. But just because we can't handle the holiday, it doesn't mean we don't want the treats. Any excuse for chocolate is fine here, and I'm all for excessive decorations.

We've been meaning to make fresh strawberry icing ever since a friend mentioned her killer recipe for it. Strawberries go with chocolate, so double chocolate muffins were a clear choice accompaniment. I love these because though we dosed them with chocolate and icing, they still have that chewy muffin consistency, and they're not overly sweet.

Note: You may want to start the icing before the muffins since they strawberries and sugar need to be refrigerated. And we recommend refrigerating the muffins once they are frosted as well.

Ingredients (makes 18):
(muffins)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups milk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
6 tbsp butter
1 cup chocolate chips

(icing)
8 oz. strawberries, hulled and sliced
1 cup granulated sugar
4 cups powdered sugar
5 tbsp butter

Instructions:
To make muffins, preheat oven to 400 and line muffin tins with muffin cups. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt, cocoa powder and baking soda. Remove about 1/8 cup of this mixture, and use it to coat chocolate chips. In a smaller bowl, combine eggs, milk and butter. Add liquid mixture into dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Scoop batter into tins, filling 4/5 of the way. Bake for about 20 minutes, until well-risen. Cool completely before icing.
To make icing, coat strawberries in the granulated sugar, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. When you are ready, remove excess liquid from strawberries and mash them. Beat butter until fluffy, then add in strawberries and 3 cups powdered sugar. Add more sugar until necessary, until icing feels creamy, or is your desired consistency.

Carrot Cake Muffins with Cream Cheese Frosting

Oops -- Two days ago, we completed our 100th post and we didn't even notice or bake ourselves something to celebrate! We originally planned to do a cake for the occasion, and though we forgot, we did coincidentally make some amazing carrot cake muffins, complete with a delectable cream cheese frosting.

As we've become something of muffin experts over the past few months (at the very least, we're obsessed and deluded amateurs), we can officially write that these are the best muffins in existence. Perhaps this is because we followed our recipe perfectly, but we'd like to think that our ever-improving baking skills had something to do with it, too. The frosting, after all, was our own. Adding apple to the batter along with coconut and carrots ensures an unbelievably moist and soft texture. They are perfect without frosting, but if added, they become sublime.

The recipe is from the Joy of Baking, and since it's so good that even people who are too lazy to click a link deserve to try it, I'm re-writing the instructions below. Happy 101st post anniversary to us! Please, celebrate with a muffin.

Ingredients:
(muffins)
1/2 cup pecans or walnuts, toasted and coarsely shopped
2 cups raw carrot, grated
1 large apple, peeled and grated
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup coconut
3 eggs
3/4 cup canola oil
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
(frosting)
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup crushed walnuts (for topping)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350. Line 18 muffin cups with paper liners. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in nuts and coconuts, and set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, oil and vanilla. Fold wet ingredients, apples and carrots into the flour mixture. Stir until just moistened. Spoon batter into muffin cups and bake 20-25 minutes, until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let cool. Meanwhile, make the frosting by combining the butter, sugar, cream cheese and vanilla in a bowl, and mixing them together (preferably with a mixer) until smooth. Once the cupcakes are cool, frost and sprinkle the crushed walnuts on top. Serve, or if not serving immediately, refrigerate.

Coconut Lime Muffins with Rasberry Filling

Nothing like the end of the semester to throw you into an existential crisis. Studying, the material seems brand-new, and suddenly we're forced to think: Oh my God, what did I actually do this semester? And before you know it: Why am I doing this? Then the kicker: Who am I?

But back to the first question. Finals are finally over, which allowed me some time to consider the question in a broader sense, not just in the "what did I do this semester that apparently erased all recollection of this concept I'm supposed to know" sense. Upon consideration, I've concluded that something that I did quite well this semester was learn to bake muffins. We did Peanut Butter & Jelly, Vanilla and Chocolate Chip and Apple Cinnamon, as well as Chocolate Pumpkin cupcakes. Muffins are my thing! I can make them -- even without Alex's help -- and they always taste delicious! Proud, I couldn't help but do a final muffin hoorah of the semester.

I adapted a recipe from my Muffins Galore cookbook, and it turned out incredibly. As I know from my favorite bath products, coconut and lime are a miracle duo. The crumble topping lends a sweet and delicious crunch, and the rasberry filling adds a surprisingly good contrast. We served these little darlings to friends while watching the season-finale of A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila. It made me feel good about life.

Ingredients:
(muffins)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 cup coconut
1 cup superfine sugar (I used half superfine, half granulated, it worked)
3 tsp lime zest, grated
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup (we used 1 percent)
1/4 cup coconut milk
7 tbsp butter, melted
rasberry jelly

(topping)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup coconut
1 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tbsp butter, cut into small pieces

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 375. Put muffin tins into the muffin pan. Make the topping first by putting all the ingredients in a bowl and rubbing the butter into them until it forms a coarse meal. For the muffins, mix flour, baking powder, coconut, sugar and lime zest in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together eggs, milk, coconut milk and melted butter. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix (the batter will seem somewhat thick like cookie dough, it's okay). Spoon batter into muffin tins, halfway up. Add about a tsp of jelly, and fill to top with batter. Bake for about 20 minutes, until well risen and golden. Cool and serve.

Apple Cinnamon Swirl Muffins

Alex accuses me of turning this into a stew and muffin blog, and I'd like to publicly offer some defensive arguments:

1) He loves stew.
2) Fall demands stew for warmth.
3) Stews are cheap, healthy and perfect for college students because they freeze beautifully.
4) I have no defense for muffins. I just love them.
5) I nearly forgot, muffins are photogenic.

Moving on, or not ... muffins muffins muffins! Baking muffins is decidedly among my favorite stress-relieving activities, second maybe only to listening to Harry Potter on the iPod. The process is simple and instinctual. Liquids and solids combine, mix and bake. And because the steps are basic, there are oodles of opportunities to invent.

Tonight, we wanted to use up extra apples, so we simply chopped them up and added them to a basic cinnamon swirl muffin. It resulted in a great tartness that complimented the sweetness of the batter, and gave it a healthy, fresh taste.

Ingredients (makes 12 muffins):
1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 cup superfine sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup skim milk
7 tbsp smart balance
1/4 tsp vanilla
3 apples, chopped
2 tsp ground cinnamon (for the cinnamon sugar)
6 tbsp granulated sugar (for the cinnamon sugar)

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 375, and fill a muffin pan with muffin cups. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and superfine sugar. In a separate bowl, mix together the egg, milk, smart balance and vanilla. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and mix in the apples. Spoon batter into each muffin cup until it is about 1/4 filled, then add a layer of cinnamon sugar and repeat twice. Using a toothpick or tip of a sharp knife, swirl the mixture in each up to achieve the swirl effect. Bake for 18-20 minutes, let cool and serve.

Vanilla and Chocolate Chip Muffins

Please don't shoot, but we don't really understand the cupcake craze. They're cute, yes, and there's the portion control factor, but we still don't think they merit the obsessive blogging and photographing and selling for $6 each, etc. Perusing the cookbook section of Penn's bookstore yesterday, we found like 5 books on cupcake decorating alone.

Muffins, however, are the underrated, modest back-up singers to the attention-mongering cupcake divas. Though they are frequently just as sweet and much tastier than cupcakes, they're not showing off about it. They're also healthier, and more versatile -- there's a whole galaxy of savory and fruity muffin-making that doesn't involve buttercream frosting or German chocolate anything (note: we are not opposed to buttercream or German chocolate generally, just in cupcake excess).

So I guess now would be a good time to disclose after making fun of all of the cupcake books at the bookstore yesterday, we purchased a muffin one. It's called Muffins Galore, and I love it. We decided to start with a simple recipe for chocolate chip muffins to bring for breakfast for our team members participating in Philadelphia's Race for Hope this morning, which raises money for the Brain Tumor Society. I've eaten two already today, and they are perfectly spongy with a great vanilla flavor. Completely simple and so yummers.


Ingredients (makes 12 muffins):
2 cups self-rising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup superfine sugar
1 cup milk or semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup milk (skim works)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 400. Line your muffin pan with paper muffin cups. Mix the flour and baking powder together in a large bowl, add the butter and rub it into the mixture. Stir in sugar and chocolate chips. In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, milk and vanilla, then pour this mixture over the dry one. Mix until combined, and spoon batter into the muffin cups. Bake for about 20 minutes, until well-risen and golden. Cool for about 10 minutes, and serve.