Olive Oil Muffins with Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Chips and Almonds

Ciao a tutti!! Mi dispiace for not posting for a few days, things have been pretty nuts because…droll roll…. I am so excited to officially announce that I will be attending cooking school in Florence in the fall!!!! I am beyond grateful and so, so excited for this opportunity. Ever since I was little, I would speak about studying opera and cooking in Italy. I studied opera in Italy a few years ago, now cooking gets its turn!! Today I am sharing a yummy American style classic breakfast…or dessert, however you look at it, but with my own Italian twist. Olive Oil Muffins with Dark Chocolate Chips and Almonds.

I loooooove muffins. For me, they have always been one of my favorite comfort foods. When I was little, there was this tiny whole in the wall bakery in my neighborhood that specialized in muffins, they were so perfect. Light, moist, not at all heavy, just delicious. My favorites were of course Chocolate Chip and Double Chocolate Chip….time hasn't really changed!! The other day, all of a sudden I had an intense muffin craving, but no place around me sells really REALLY good muffins. 

What was I to do? Well, make them myself!! These are very yummy. A few tips for making these muffins...for the chocolate chips, I will only use Ghirardelli 60% Cocoa Bittersweet Chocolate Chips; the chocolate is so rich and intense. Whenever I bake, I also only use King Arthur Flours; they are just lighter and producer a better product. This is a classic bakery style muffin. You will love them!!

Olive Oil Muffins with Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Chips and Almonds

3 cups of King Arthur All Purpose Flour

4 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

2 eggs, at room temperature

1 cup of sugar

1 cup of almond milk (you can use regular milk, the almond milk just adds a slightly sweet almond flavor that I like)

½ cup of olive oil

½ tsp. vanilla extract

½ tsp. almond extract

1 cup of Ghirardelli 60% Cocoa Bittersweet Chocolate Chips

1 cup of chopped almonds

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Prepare a 6 muffin tin with non stick spray or you can use muffin liners.

In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar until combined, add the milk, oil, vanilla and almond extracts. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry and gently fold. You do not want to over mix, that will result in heavier muffin. Fold in the chocolate chips and almonds. Pour the batter into your muffin tins, make sure to fill it all the way to the top, you want that nice muffin top!! Bake for 30 minutes or longer if needed. You can stick a tooth pick in to make sure they are set. Everyone’s oven is different so baking time may vary. When they are done, let them cool for around 15 minutes in the pan. Then after 15 minutes….go to town!!!! Buon Appetito!!!