Recipe: Chocolate Chip Muffins

My childhood best friend’s mother was the queen of boxed cooking. Whenever I had dinner at their house, we feasted on “canned cream-of” casseroles and powdered scalloped potatoes. But here’s the thing: the food was always hearty, fed a crowd, and appeared on the table at the same time every night. No exceptions. While the meal might not have been gourmet, it was still a quality family dinner. I was always welcome at the table and there was always plenty to go around.

The best part about hanging at her house, though, was what happened in the morning — I could always rely on fresh-from-the-oven muffins.

These muffins always came from a box mix, but that never bothered me. I was a cereal and cheese toast kind of kid, so I was easily impressed by feats such as “homemade” breakfast.

I loved the chocolate chip kind the most, which always seemed more like eating dessert, especially served warm from the oven with a cold glass of milk. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on who you ask), it has been years since I’ve had those just-add-milk muffins. I’d been doing a lot of breakfast baking lately, when all of a sudden a stray bag of chocolate chips sparked the muffin memories of youth. I immediately went to work, adapting my favorite blueberry muffin recipe to instead include chocolate chips.

The first cakey bite tasted just like the delicious muffins I remembered. Only this time, from scratch. Gone now are the lazy days of childhood, with its slumber parties and sleepovers, but at least I have this recipe to always take me back. Perhaps I’ll even serve it to my kids and their friends. And perhaps their friends will be very impressed.