Tender, light, and filled with chocolate, Chocolate Chip Muffins are an easy family favorite. There’s no mixer required for this quick and simple recipe.

Back in the spring when I was making mountains of muffins for these Blueberry Yogurt Muffins, I made the mistake of making one batch with chocolate chips. The kids never forgot it. And for months they’ve been asking for those muffins, “not the fruit kind Mom”.

But when I started putting chocolate chips in that blueberry muffin recipe, I felt like it was missing something. A bit more sugar, a pinch of cinnamon, a richer vanilla base that comes from sour cream (instead of yogurt), and by the end I had an entirely new recipe that tasted more like it was built for semi-sweet chocolate chips rather than having them land there by accident. The kids all agreed (especially since they got to taste test many batches of these).

Here’s all you need to make these light, tender muffins.

Ingredients

Unsalted Butter - If using salted butter, just skip the added salt in the recipe.
All-Purpose Flour - Weigh the flour if possible, but otherwise, just gently spoon it into the measuring cup. Too much flour will cause the muffins to be more dense.
Sour Cream - We tested these using full fat sour cream. They should also work with light sour cream, but it’s a good idea to reduce the milk by about 1 tablespoon with light sour cream so the batter isn’t too thin.
Milk - Any type will work
Ground Cinnamon - A small pinch of ground cinnamon really helps to bring out the chocolate flavors. It’s fine to skip it, and you don’t need much, but it does add a little something special.
White Sugar, Baking Powder, Large Egg, Salt, Vanilla Extract - You’ll also need these basic baking ingredients.
Chocolate Chips - This will also work with chopped chocolate. Save some to sprinkle over the tops of the muffins before baking.
Turbinado Sugar - This a large grain sugar that I keep around just for sprinkling over top of baked goods. Totally unnecessary, but fun if it’s something you keep on hand. It gives the muffins a little extra something in the texture / crunch department.

How to Freeze Muffins

Muffins freeze well. Let them cool completely and then line them up on a baking sheet. Freeze on the baking sheet until solid, about 3 hours. Transfer to a freezer-safe plastic bag, pressing out as much air as possible. Freeze for up to 6 months.

To defrost, let sit at room temperature for a couple of hours or use the defrost setting on the microwave. Frozen muffins make great lunch additions - just wrap them in plastic or put them in a lunch box and they should be defrosted by noon.

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