Chocolate Chip and Pomegranate Muffins
Ingredients:
Preparation time: 15 minCooking time: 25 minCooling time: 5 min
Persons: 12Difficulty: LowCost: Low
Introduction:
These Chocolate Chip and Pomegranate Muffins are a good example of how you can experiment with ingredients and use season's best produce combined with your favourite flavours such as chocolate. The chocolate chips can be changed from white chunks to dark or milk chocolate bits. Usually red fruits are a great combination with white chocolate but anything is possible when you're preparing your muffin dough! This American English type of quick bread has endless varieties with blueberries, chocolate chips, raspberry, cinnamon, pumpkin, nut, lemon, banana, orange, peach, strawberry, boysenberry, almond, and carrot, all baked into the muffins. These Chocolate Chip and Pomegranate Muffins offer another great variety by adding the pomegranate arils to the muffin dough for some sweetness and a pop of color!
These Chocolate Chip and Pomegranate Muffins are a good example of how you can experiment with ingredients and use season's best produce combined with your favourite flavours such as chocolate. The chocolate chips can be changed from white chunks to dark or milk chocolate bits. Usually red fruits are a great combination with white chocolate but anything is possible when you're preparing your muffin dough! This American English type of quick bread has endless varieties with blueberries, chocolate chips, raspberry, cinnamon, pumpkin, nut, lemon, banana, orange, peach, strawberry, boysenberry, almond, and carrot, all baked into the muffins. These Chocolate Chip and Pomegranate Muffins offer another great variety by adding the pomegranate arils to the muffin dough for some sweetness and a pop of color!
- Baking powder
1 sachet - Bicarbonate
half a teaspoon - Butter
190 gr - Chocolate
chips, 100 gr - Eggs
3 - Flour
380 gr - Milk
200 ml - Pomegranates
1 - Salt
a pinch - Sugar
200 gr - Vanilla sugar
1 sachet
For the Chocolate Chip and Pomegranate Muffins:
- Chocolate chips
to decorate - Pomegranate arils
to decorate
For the Decoration:
Recipe:
Preparation:
Before preparing the muffin mixture we cut the pomegranate in half to take out the arils.
The important thing when retrieving the arils from the pomegranate is to be patient and to not damage the seeds. Hold the pomegranate in your hands and slowly press the outer edges further outwards with your thumbs so the arils that are inside the pomegranate pop upwards making it easy to retrieve them one by one. Set the pomegranate arils aside with your chocolate chips which will both be added to the muffin dough later on. Cut the softened butter in smaller dices.
Put the dices of butter in a mixing bowl, add the sugar and whisk the two ingredients for a few minutes until creamy.
Add the 3 eggs, one by one, to the mixture of butter and sugar to avoid the butter from splitting.
Add the first egg and give the mixture a stir, add the second egg, stir again and eventually add the third and last egg to the mixture.
Heat the 200 ml of milk for less than a minute in the microwave or in a pan until lukewarm but not too warm because it has to be added to the egg mixture. Pour the milk into the bowl while whisking with a spoon. After stirring with the spoon whisk for a minute with a mixer to blend in all the ingredients and add some volume to the mixture. Now, we have to add the powder ingredients.
Add the sachet of vanilla sugar and the sachet of baking powder to the flour. Also add the bicarbonate, the pinch of salt and blend all the powders. Sift the powder ingredients and add them to the egg mixture.
Add the flour in two or three times and stir in between to blend in all the ingredients. You have now created the muffin dough to which we will add the chocolate chips and the pomegranate arils. Remember to keep some of both aside for the final decoration of the muffins.
Stir in the chocolate chips and the pomegranate arils one bowl at a time but be careful not to break the arils because the pomegranate juice running from them might alter the taste of the muffin dough. Use a muffin tin to fit 12 cups for this recipe and fill it with paper or silicone cups. In this recipe I have used silicone cups but if you want to get higher and fluffy muffins then paper cups can be a better option.
Preheat the oven to 180°. Use a spoon to pour the muffin dough in the 12 cups and fill them to the edge of the molds.
Use a spoon to even the filled cups and decorate the muffins with the remaining chocolate chips and pomegranate arils. Put the muffins in the oven and bake them for about 25 min until they are are golden brown.
After the 25 min have passed you can open the oven but leave the warm Chocolate Chip and Pomegranate Muffins inside the oven for another 5 min (with the oven door open). This way they can cool just a little to be able to remove the cups safely but they will not lose their fluffiness. Serve the muffins still warm with a cup of tea or coffee at breakfast or maybe with some ice cream after dinner!
Before preparing the muffin mixture we cut the pomegranate in half to take out the arils.
The important thing when retrieving the arils from the pomegranate is to be patient and to not damage the seeds. Hold the pomegranate in your hands and slowly press the outer edges further outwards with your thumbs so the arils that are inside the pomegranate pop upwards making it easy to retrieve them one by one. Set the pomegranate arils aside with your chocolate chips which will both be added to the muffin dough later on. Cut the softened butter in smaller dices.
Put the dices of butter in a mixing bowl, add the sugar and whisk the two ingredients for a few minutes until creamy.
Add the 3 eggs, one by one, to the mixture of butter and sugar to avoid the butter from splitting.
Add the first egg and give the mixture a stir, add the second egg, stir again and eventually add the third and last egg to the mixture.
Heat the 200 ml of milk for less than a minute in the microwave or in a pan until lukewarm but not too warm because it has to be added to the egg mixture. Pour the milk into the bowl while whisking with a spoon. After stirring with the spoon whisk for a minute with a mixer to blend in all the ingredients and add some volume to the mixture. Now, we have to add the powder ingredients.
Add the sachet of vanilla sugar and the sachet of baking powder to the flour. Also add the bicarbonate, the pinch of salt and blend all the powders. Sift the powder ingredients and add them to the egg mixture.
Add the flour in two or three times and stir in between to blend in all the ingredients. You have now created the muffin dough to which we will add the chocolate chips and the pomegranate arils. Remember to keep some of both aside for the final decoration of the muffins.
Stir in the chocolate chips and the pomegranate arils one bowl at a time but be careful not to break the arils because the pomegranate juice running from them might alter the taste of the muffin dough. Use a muffin tin to fit 12 cups for this recipe and fill it with paper or silicone cups. In this recipe I have used silicone cups but if you want to get higher and fluffy muffins then paper cups can be a better option.
Preheat the oven to 180°. Use a spoon to pour the muffin dough in the 12 cups and fill them to the edge of the molds.
Use a spoon to even the filled cups and decorate the muffins with the remaining chocolate chips and pomegranate arils. Put the muffins in the oven and bake them for about 25 min until they are are golden brown.
After the 25 min have passed you can open the oven but leave the warm Chocolate Chip and Pomegranate Muffins inside the oven for another 5 min (with the oven door open). This way they can cool just a little to be able to remove the cups safely but they will not lose their fluffiness. Serve the muffins still warm with a cup of tea or coffee at breakfast or maybe with some ice cream after dinner!
Cooking Tips:
Instead of adding dark chocolate chips you can use chunks of white chocolate, milk chocolate or any chocolate variety that you might prefer.
Use paper muffin cups for higher and more fluffy muffins because with the silicone ones, used in this recipe, the mixture tends to widen and not to climb upwards.
After the cooking time has passed let the muffins cool in the oven with the oven door open to avoid losing the height and the fluffiness of the muffins.
Store the muffins in a sealed box or place them in freezer bags and put them in the freezer. One freezer bag for each muffin.
Instead of adding dark chocolate chips you can use chunks of white chocolate, milk chocolate or any chocolate variety that you might prefer.Use paper muffin cups for higher and more fluffy muffins because with the silicone ones, used in this recipe, the mixture tends to widen and not to climb upwards.After the cooking time has passed let the muffins cool in the oven with the oven door open to avoid losing the height and the fluffiness of the muffins.Store the muffins in a sealed box or place them in freezer bags and put them in the freezer. One freezer bag for each muffin.