Salty Sweet Chocolate Chip Muffins

This is another one of those cakelike muffins that seem to be neither cake nor muffin. It makes an excellent afternoon pick me up but somehow seems a little disappointing as an after dinner dessert. Despite what I just said, it is also quite yummy. It also is a great before bed snack–although not a healthy one, of course.

The salt on top is up to you–but I highly recommending trying it at least once. For me it keeps the muffins from veering into insipid sweetness–and makes them just that much more interesting. Like the other chocolate muffin, this recipe is based on a muffin out of Lisa Yockelson’s ChocolateChocolate. Unlike the other recipe, this one needed very little adaptation, mostly in the addition of the salt.

Salty Sweet Chocolate Chip Muffins
Closely adapted from ChocolateChocolate

3 cups (378 g) AP flour
2 3/4 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1/2 t fine sea salt
2 cups (1 bag) semi sweet chocolate chips
12 T (1 1/2 sticks_ unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup superfine sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 T vanilla
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup whole milk (I used cream + 1%)
coarse grey sea salt for sprinkling on top of the muffins

Yockelson’s recipe is for 9 giant muffins–but I am not a fan of giant muffins. Filling the muffin cup 2/3-3/4 full, it made 24 regular sized muffins–so I froze some. Just be aware the recipe makes a lot.

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Line 24 muffin cups (2 pans) with paper muffin liners and then lightly spray the insides of the paper and tops of the pans. Set aside.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

Cream the butter until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes on moderate speed of an electric mixer. Add the sugar and beat an additional 2 minutes and then add the brown sugar and cream for another 2 minutes. Beat in the vanilla extract. Be sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating for 30 seconds after each egg and scraping as needed.

On the lowest speed, add the milk and flour, alternating between them, adding the flour in 3 additions and the milk in 2 additions (begin and end with the flour). Continue to be vigilant about scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl.

Fill each muffin cup 2/3 – 3/4 full, diving the dough evenly. I have had great luck lately using a large disher (size 20) with creamed butter based doughs (i.e., stiffer doughs, not batters) as they give the muffins nicely rounded tops. Sprinkle the tops with coarse grey sea salt.

Be sure to exchange the sheets–top to bottom and front to back–halfway through if you do not have a convection oven (and if you are using convection, bake at 350 F). Bake for 20-23 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean or only with melted chocolate on it from a chip. Let the muffins cool in the pans for 5 minutes and then carefully remove them to cool completely on a cooling rack.