These mouth-watering Raspberry Chocolate Chip Muffins are an over-the-top, decadent, barely-justifiable-for-breakfast kind of muffin….making them the perfect start to your Valentine’s Day!  Start your morning off sweetly with these crunchy-top, soft and buttery muffins, that are PACKED with raspberries and delicious chocolate flavour.  These sweet treats are mixed by hand in just one bowl in 15 minutes, so they’re quick to make, with minimal mess in the kitchen. They make a great Valentines Day treat, but they work equally well with fresh or frozen raspberries, so you can make these extra special muffins any time of year!

Raspberry Chocolate Chip Muffins

Preparation Time: 15 minutes             Bake Time:  22 minutes.

Yield:  16 muffins

INGREDIENTS

• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1/4 cup of canola oil
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 Tbsp vanilla
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries (individually quick-frozen, not the kind sold frozen in a block)
• 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
• Sanding sugar
• Small chocolate hearts (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS 

1. Preheat the oven to 425F.  Spray the insides and top of a standard 12 cup muffin tin with cooking spray.  This recipe makes about 16 muffins, so prepare extra cups in a second muffin tin or bake in batches.  If you’d like to use paper liners, add one to each muffin cup, then lightly spray the inside of the liner with cooking spray to make the liner easier to peel off the baked muffin.

2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the melted butter, oil and sugar.  Add the eggs, one at a time, whisking between each until fully incorporated and mixture is smooth.  Add the yogurt and vanilla and mix well.

3. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, and fold it all together with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon.  Fold until the ingredients are just combined, with no streaks of flour remaining.  Do not overmix.
4. Fold in the raspberries and 1 1/4 cups of the chocolate chips just until the raspberries and chocolate are evenly distributed.  ( Reserve the remaining 1/4 cup of chocolate chips for the topping.).
5. Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tins, filling each cup full.  Sprinkle the tops with sanding sugar, using about 1/4 tsp of sanding sugar for each muffin.  Distribute the remaining 1/4 cup of chocolate chips over the tops of the muffins.  Bake in the preheated oven for 7 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 375F.  Bake an additional 12-15 minutes at 375F until fully baked and muffin tops spring back when lightly pressed.
6. Remove the muffins from the oven and immediately add a few small chocolate hearts to each muffin top, if using.  The heat from the hot muffins will melt the chocolate hearts enough to lightly adhere them.  Cool the muffins in the tins for 10 minutes, then remove from the tins and continue to cool on a rack.  These muffins are best eaten the day they are made, but can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 days at room temperature or frozen for up to 2 months.

SERVING SUGGESTIONS

Raspberry Chocolate Chip muffins are a delightful indulgence anytime of the day!  They’re the perfect sweet treat to add to a brunch menu, or to enjoy with a cup of tea as an afternoon snack.  Serve them for breakfast with coffee and a fruit salad for an extra-special start to Valentine’s Day!

IT’S WORTH MENTIONING….

Oven Temperature matters! Ever wonder why your roasted vegetables didn’t brown, or your cookies burned, even though you carefully followed the temperature and cooking times in a recipe? Your oven could be to blame. The actual temperature in the oven may be wildly different than what you set it for. Improve your cooking and baking results with an inexpensive oven thermometer that will give you an accurate read of the temperature inside your oven, allowing you to make adjustments accordingly.  Accurate oven temperatures are particularly important in recipes such as this one, in order to achieve just the right results!

RECIPE NOTES

• Raspberries:  This recipe can be make with fresh or frozen raspberries.  I usually make these with frozen raspberries, as the raspberry season is short, and the fresh raspberries available during the off-season are often mushy and lacking in flavour.  If you’re buying frozen raspberries, look for the type that is individually quick frozen (usually sold in a bag) as opposed to the kind that is frozen in a block, often in syrup.  Don’t defrost the frozen raspberries before adding them to the batter.  Fold them into the muffin batter while they’re still frozen for best results.
• Temperature change: Starting the baking at a high temperature, then reducing the heat part way is a common technique for baking muffins.  The initial blast of high heat makes the tops rise high and round, while the lower temperature allows the centres to cook through without over-browning the muffin tops.  You don’t need to take the muffins out of the oven during the temperature change.  Simply adjust the temperature, and reset the timer.  See the notes in the “It’s worth mentioning…” section above, about achieving accurate oven temperatures.
• Butter and Oil:  This recipe calls for both butter and oil, and each has a distinctive purpose.  Butter has great flavour, but given the high water content of butter, much of it evaporates during baking, so it’s not great at adding moisture.  Oil is great for achieving moist, tender results, but doesn’t offer much in the way of flavour.  The combination of the two delivers a balance of delicious flavour and moist texture.  I use canola oil, but vegetable oil works well too.
• Sanding sugar:  The sanding sugar gives the muffin tops an addictive crunch and a pretty sparkle.  You could skip it if you’d like, but since these muffins are already loaded with chocolate, raspberry and buttery flavour, go all in with a bakery-style, sugary, crunchy muffin top!  Look for sanding sugar, sometimes called sparkling sugar or decorating sugar, in the baking section at the grocery store, at bulk food stores or baking supply shops.
• Pro Tip: Do not overmix!  I usually recommend mixing muffin batters by hand and making as few strokes as possible once the flour is added.  Mix just until the ingredients are incorporated and fold in the add ins (in this case the raspberries and chocolate chips) with just a few, broad turns of the rubber spatula.    Over mixing will result in dry, tough muffins.