This is a simple, delicious and versatile chocolate-chip yogurt muffin recipe that can be adapted to make just about any muffin you like. Just substitute the chocolate chips for the flavor of your choice: blueberry, apple, peach, white chocolate, etc. Before we get started, here are some of favorite tips and tricks for making the perfect muffins!
Homemade muffin tips and tricks:
- Use yogurt
Yogurt is one of my favorite secret weapons in the kitchen, and I use it in all sorts of recipes. From yogurt muffins to turkey meatballs to this tart, the unique flavor and consistency of yogurt can transform a wimpy recipe into something special. If you don’t have any yogurt on hand you can substitute with milk, but I recommend squeezing few drops of lemon juice into the milk before adding it to the batter. - Do Not over-mix!
What you really want is to just moisten the ingredients. Resist the temptation to stir or beat the batter until it is smooth and lump free. Once you have added your dry ingredients to the wet, stir 10-12 times then stop. You want the final mix to be lumpy, thick, floury and looking very messy. Over-mixing your batter will result in tough muffins. - Flour the add-ins
In a separate bowl measure our your blueberries or chocolate chips and add one tablespoon of flour, toss to combine. This ensures that the blueberries (or chips or whatever) don’t sink to the bottom of the muffins. - Do NOT thaw those berries!
Fresh berries are the best, but frozen ones work beautifully in muffins as well. If you are using frozen, then be sure not to thaw them. Instead, toss them in flour (see above) and mix them in to the batter while still frozen. They will thaw in the oven while keeping their shape. - Line the pan
You may either grease the muffin tin or line it with paper liners, but don’t make the mistake of doing neither! There is nothing worse than a beautiful, perfectly-baked muffin that won’t come out of the pan. - Portion properly
Use an ice-cream scoop to portion out your batter into your muffin pan. By using an ice-cream scoop you can make sure you scoop all your muffins the same size. If they are all the same size then they will all bake evenly. - Don’t overfill
Fill the cups ¾ full to get muffins with nice round tops, and to prevent them from overflowing. - Fill up the pan
If there isn’t enough batter to fill all the cups, half fill the empty ones with water. This will help the muffins bake evenly and will protect the pan from warping. - Preheat smartly
Pre-heat at a slightly lower oven temperature than the baking temperature. For example, these muffins call for a 400°F/200°C baking temp, so I pre-heated my oven at 190°C/380°F, then right when I put the muffins I heated the oven to 400°F/200°C. This final blast of heat helps the muffins rise to create that perfect dome. - Don’t cool in pan
After taking them out of the oven, don’t leave muffins in the hot tin to cool. Instead of immediately starting to cool, the hot pan will continue to cook the muffins, which might cause them to dry out. - Freeze for later
Muffins freeze wonderfully, so if you can’t enjoy them all on the day they’re made, wrap them in plastic wrap and put them in the freezer for later.
Yogurt Chocolate Chip Muffins
- 1 cup (7 oz / 200 g) chocolate chips
- 1 1/2 c (200 g) flour
- 1/2 c (100 g) sugar
- pinch of salt
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 4 tbsp (60 g) butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 1 egg
- 3/4 c (180 g) yogurt
Preheat oven to 380°F / 190°C. Butter muffin tins or line with paper liners.
Toss chocolate chips with 1 tsp of flour in a small bowl and set aside. In a large bowl stir together flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. In a medium bowl, beat together the butter, egg and yogurt. Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry until they are only just combined. Do not over mix. Delicately fold the chocolate chips into the batter
Fill the muffin tins only about 2/3 of the way up, then sprinkle the tops of the muffins with sugar. Transfer to preheated oven and immediately raise temp to 400°F/200°C. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until they are golden-brown.
