Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Muffins

Last week I was wanting to bake something that I could stockpile in the freezer, to pull out when I needed something to take with me for breakfast. I wanted something tasty and beautiful, something that I would get excited about eating. It makes me happy when I have something delicious to look forward to in the morning. My mind went immediately to muffins because they are so easy, and extremely portable. The perfect on-the-go breakfast treat in my opinion. 

I immediately went to my 'muffins and quickbreads' Pinterest board to browse through the options I had there. In the end I decided on these whole wheat chocolate chip muffins. First of all I thought the photo of them was just so pretty, it made me want to make them. It is so true that you eat with your eyes first, and these just looked so tasty. They also were on the healthier side for a muffin which was another plus; a lot of whole wheat flour, not tons of sugar, yogurt and applesauce, and only a little bit of butter. It sounded like a nice combination, so I just had to give them a try. 

So how did they turn out? Well I ended up really liking them a lot. They are hearty and definitely muffins, not cakey at all. They are not overly sweet, but with the chocolate they don't need to be extremely sweet anyway. I did end up having to adjust the amount of liquid in the recipe, adding a little extra milk, because otherwise the batter was just way too dry. And the whole wheat flour definitely shines through, giving them a nice nutty flavor that I really like. It might be a little strong for some people but I really enjoyed it. 

One complaint I did have was they turned out a little on the dry side, still perfectly edible and delicious, but slightly dry, and this was even with me cutting down on the baking time. I want to play around with the recipe a little more and see if I can get them to come out a bit more moist next time. I was thinking about possible adding a little more milk, and maybe trying buttermilk instead of the milk (just because I love buttermilk!). But we'll see, I'll keep you posted. One thing I do know, these muffins are definitely worth trying again. 

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Muffins
Adapted from A Spoonful of Photography
Ingredients

• 2 cups Whole Wheat Flour
• 1/2 cup All Purpose Flour
• 1 Tbsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
• 1 Pinch Salt
• 1/2-2/3 cup (around 4 oz) Sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup (4.25 oz) Yogurt
• 5 Tbsp Milk 
• 1/2 cup (4.25 oz) Applesauce
• 2 Tbsp Butter or Oil
• 150g dark chocolate chunks

Directions

Preheat your oven to 425 °F. Grease or line your muffin tin with parchment paper. Mix together both flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a seperate bowl beat together egg and sugar, then add in the yogurt, applesauce and butter. Gently fold in the wet ingredients into the dry, gently adding the chocolate chips when only some flour isn't mixed in - be careful to not overmix!

Scoop the batter into your muffin tins until each one is filled about 2/3 and put it in the oven at 425 °C for 5 minutes, then lower the temperature to 375 °C for further 10-12 minutes. Take out, let cool and enjoy!

Yields: 12 nice sized muffins