Chocolate chip mini muffins – Breakfast at Clique-any’s

I know, I know, I’ve really got to write about something other than chocolate for breakfast. It’s a little embarrassing actually. Would it help if I said that the chocolate chip mini muffins I baked weren’t for me? I thought not, but it’s true. I promise I’ll write about something breakfast-y next week, that doesn’t involve chocolate, if you just bear with me through this post.

This weekend my moms’ group had a bake sale that started in the morning, so I thought we needed an offering that wasn’t purely a dessert. I was wrong, but that’s neither here nor there. I still made a mean mini muffin.

This recipe was great for the masses; that might even include you. There are a million things I would change about this recipe to suit my family, starting with cutting back the absurd amount of sugar in it. These muffins really were too sweet. I’d change other things too, because they can actually be a healthy treat — really!

Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins (my version)

Ingredients:

1/4 – 1/3 cup sucanat
1/4 cup organic unsalted butter
1 egg
1/2 cup milk (I use unsweetened vanilla almond milk, but any will work)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sprouted spelt flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips or grain-sweetened chocolate chips

In a large mixing bowl, cream sucanat and butter until fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla; mix well. Combine dry ingredients. Gradually add to creamed mixture; mix well. Fold in chocolate chips. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of batter into each greased or paper-lined mini-muffin cup. Bake at 375 degrees F for 10-13 minutes (I found 11 minutes to be just perfect) or until muffins test done. Cool in pan 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

Next week, I really, really won’t write about chocolate … for this column anyway.