Chocolate Chip Yogurt Muffins

Today, I was trying to motivate myself to clean out my closet. Yeah, nope.

Especially with a big, bad-ass bowl of semi-sweet chocolate morsels lying innocently on the kitchen counter. Screw the closet. I needed to bake. Stat.

My first inclination was chocolate chip cookies. Fast, easy, satisfying. But then, I had a craving for something a little...softer. Something I could really sink my teeth into while cleaning out that closet. Something...muffin-y.

I remembered recently reading a seemingly easy yogurt muffin recipe on a food blog that I follow (For the Love of Cooking). The ingredients were all in my refrigerator or pantry and in the recipe description, the author promised "really moist, absolutely delicious muffins." Sold.

My recipe is adapted from, though not identical to the original.

To make Chocolate Chip Yogurt Muffins, you need:

-2 cups white flour
-1/3 cup sugar
-1 tsp baking powder
-1 tsp baking soda
-1/4 tsp salt
-1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
-2 tbsp vegetable or canola oil
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-1 cup vanilla or strawberry yogurt (the original recipe called for vanilla yogurt which I did not have. I used 1/2 cup of low-fat strawberry yogurt mixed with 1/2 cup of plain, Greek-style yogurt. The muffins were super delicious and even more fluffy than anticipated, so I am a fan of my improvisation in this case).
-1 large egg
-3/4 cup chocolate chips

1). Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease muffin tin with cooking spray or butter, and set aside.
2). In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt).
3). In another bowl, mix the wet ingredients (lemon juice, oil, vanilla, yogurt, egg).
4). Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix well with a wooden spoon until batter is moist. The batter should be both fluffy and sticky.
5). Mix in chocolate chips.
6). Transfer batter to individual muffin tins and bake for 10-12 minutes (if using mini muffin tins), or, 15-18 minutes (if using standard muffin tins).
7). Remove from oven, transfer to cooling rack and enjoy.

This recipe yields about 1 dozen regular muffins or 2 dozen mini muffins. The muffins pair well with butter and a little honey, while being consumed in the dark depths of an over-crowded closet. Just saying.