The DHX: The Doughtie Houses Exchange

By Jill Davis Doughtie

These chocolate chip muffins are adapted from Deborah Madison’s Basic Buttermilk Muffins recipe in Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. Her recipe offers lots of fruit variations and doesn’t suggest using chocolate chips. Ritzy Chicken never uses up an entire 32 fluid oz. carton of buttermilk, so in the weeks that I make that, I usually make these, too. When the kids are here, I use the recipe below. When they’re not, I substitute whole wheat flour for the white flour and use a cup of chopped up apple and dried cherries or cranberries instead of chocolate chips.

Chocolate Chip Buttermilk Muffins

Dry ingredients:

• 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

Wet ingredients:

• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1-1/3 cups buttermilk
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1-1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

And:

• 1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray or butter muffin tins. Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wets in a second bowl, then combine them with a few swift strokes. Using a rubber spatula, stir the batter up from the bottom of the bowl to make sure that there aren’t any pockets of flour. Don’t beat the batter and don’t worry about a slightly uneven appearance. Stir in the chocolate chips. Spoon or scoop the batter into the tins, going nearly to the top for a nicely rounded muffin. Bake in the upper third of the oven until browned and well risen, about 25 minutes. Turn out the muffins and serve.

Tags: buttermilk, chocolate chips, muffins, recipes