I absolutely love a good muffin. One of my favourite muffins was always white chocolate chip one, filled with a raspberry compote! It was sweet, tangy, fresh, and chocolatey all at the same time, almost like a jam doughnut crossed with a muffin.
(I’m suddenly upset that I can’t remember where it’s from! I want to say it could have been from Waitrose or Sainsbury’s, but don’t quote me on that, this was a long long time ago and they’ve probably changed their muffin stock by now…)

But we’re not here to talk about shop-bought muffins, we’re here to talk about making our own homemade muffins! I’m assuming you guys don’t have huge commercial ovens at home, so we’re going to do this the home-style way. Muffins baked at home won’t look exactly like shop-bought muffins, but that’s exactly why we love ’em!

Now, we don’t want our muffins just to be cupcakes with chocolate chips in, even though that does still sound absolutely delicious. We want lovely, tall, moist, soft, and fluffy muffins with that sweet, slightly sticky muffin top (the best bit if you ask me).

So read on for my top tips on how to get them perfect first time!

1. Try not to overmix your dry ingredients. For nice soft and fluffy muffins, you want to gently fold them in with a spatula until only just combined.

2. Refrigerate the batter for at least 1 hour. I found between 2 -3 hours was about perfect. This will help the muffins to rise without spilling over, giving you nice tall muffins!

3. Start by baking the muffins at a high heat, then without opening the oven, turn the oven down and continue baking until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick comes out of the centre with just a couple of crumbs on.

4. If your oven bakes very unevenly (like mine does), you can open the oven and turn the muffin tray around. Just try to do this quickly (and carefully) and try not to take the muffins fully out of the oven whilst doing this if possible… Oh the joys of home ovens!
You could also bake in smaller batches of 4 so your muffins are all close to the centre of the oven where it tends to bake most evenly (in my oven’s case anyway).

These are my main tips for perfect muffins, but please do let me and others know in the comments if you have any extra secret tips that could help even further.

Ingredients

• 2 large eggs room temp
• 60 ml vegetable oil
• 120 ml whole milk room temp
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 250 g self raising flour
• 200 g caster sugar
• 80 g chocolate chips + some for the top

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 220C/200C (fan) and line a muffin tray with 8 muffin cases
• In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, vegetable oil, milk and vanilla until fully combined, then set these aside
• In another large mixing bowl, using a balloon whisk, whisk the self raising flour and caster sugar until combined
• Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold them together using a rubber spatula or a wooden spoon until just combined. The batter should be nice and thick. Try not to overmix as this can lead to a tougher, denser muffin
• Fold in the chocolate chips (again, do not overmix)
• Cover the bowl with cling film and refrigerate for 1 hour
• Scoop the mix into your prepared muffin cases about 3/4 of the way full and smooth them out evenly, then sprinkle about 8 chocolate chips on the top of each
• Bake in the oven at 220C/200C (fan) for 7 minutes, then turn the heat down to 190C/170C (fan) and bake for a further 13 minutes until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Don’t open the oven whilst the muffins are baking
• Let them cool for 10-15 minutes before eating. Enjoy!

Notes

• Store in an airtight container for up to 4 days at room temperature
• Refrigerating the batter helps the muffins rise without overflowing
• Baking at a higher temperature first, gives the muffins enough heat to rise nice and high, we then turn the oven down so they cook evenly without browning too much on top
• Do not open the oven whilst baking

Nutrition